Meridian Amputation Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Meridian and across Mississippi and Louisiana, and the firm’s practice is built around workers’ compensation. When a job takes a limb, a hand, or a finger, the claim that follows is not a routine one. A Meridian amputation lawyer has to think past the first surgery and the first few paychecks, because a traumatic amputation changes what a person can do for a living, what they will need medically for decades, and how the insurance carrier will try to value all of it.
Amputations in the workplace tend to come from a short list of causes: crushing and caught-in injuries involving presses, conveyors, and saws; electrical and burn injuries that end in surgical amputation; vehicle and equipment accidents; and infections or vascular complications after a severe fracture. The injury itself is rarely disputed. What gets disputed is the rating, the prosthetic coverage, the question of whether you can work again, and how much the carrier owes for the life you now have to plan around.
What the Law Provides When a Work Injury Costs You a Limb
Mississippi’s workers’ compensation system treats amputation as a permanent injury, and the law handles it differently from a sprain or a herniated disc. Permanent total and temporary total disability both pay two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum, for no more than 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability for injuries outside the scheduled categories is also capped at 450 weeks. The weekly maximum is adjusted by the state, so the figure that applies to you depends on the date of your injury.
Coverage begins on the first day of employment. There is no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement, which matters for newer hires, seasonal workers, and people hurt in their first week on a job site. Beyond wage benefits, the carrier is responsible for reasonable and necessary medical care, and in an amputation case that means surgery, hospitalization, wound care, physical and occupational therapy, and prosthetic devices and their replacement over time.
For Louisiana workers, the structure is similar but the vocabulary differs. Supplemental earnings benefits apply when a worker returns to work but cannot earn at least 90 percent of the pre-injury wage; they equal two-thirds of the difference between what you earned before and what you earn or are able to earn now. Those benefits run until you are released to full duty, you are earning your pre-injury wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that total. The weekly compensation rate is fixed by the date of the accident and does not change later.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Severe Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm for injured workers in Mississippi and Louisiana. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Partners Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team. Together the attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients.
That track record includes serious injury results: $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager injured after being struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Each of those cases involved a carrier disputing the extent of an injury that was plain on the medical record, which is the same dynamic that shows up in amputation claims. Clients describe a team that listens, communicates, and stands up to the insurance company. The firm works on a no recovery, no fee basis, advances the costs of the case, offers free consultations, answers its phones 24 hours a day, and speaks Spanish with clients who prefer it.
Situations That Lead to Amputation Claims
- Caught-in and crush injuries: Presses, conveyors, augers, and rollers in sawmills, poultry and food processing plants, and manufacturing facilities can take fingers, hands, or entire arms in an instant. Missing machine guards or disabled lockout procedures are common facts behind these cases.
- Construction and ironwork accidents: Falls, struck-by incidents, and equipment rollovers on job sites can produce open fractures and crush injuries that end in surgical amputation of a foot or leg.
- Oil field and industrial burns: Severe burns to the extremities, like those suffered on rigs and in plants, can destroy tissue to the point that amputation becomes the medical choice.
- Truck and vehicle collisions: Drivers and delivery workers hurt in wrecks on the job may lose a limb, and the crash can support a claim against the at-fault driver in addition to workers’ compensation.
- Electrical injuries: Contact with energized lines or equipment can cause internal tissue damage that is not obvious at first and leads to later amputation.
- Complications after fractures: A badly broken foot, ankle, or leg can develop infection, compartment syndrome, or vascular failure, and the amputation that follows is still a consequence of the original work injury.
- Partial amputations of fingers and hands: Even the loss of a thumb or fingertip can end a career for a mechanic, electrician, or machinist, and carriers often undervalue these losses.
What to Do After an Amputation Injury at Work
Medical care comes first, and nothing in a claim should delay it. Once you are stable, the legal clock matters. In both Mississippi and Louisiana, you must report the injury to your employer within 30 days. A written report is better than a verbal one, and a serious amputation usually generates an incident report anyway, so ask for a copy of whatever your employer files. In Mississippi, if the carrier has not paid disability benefits, you generally have two years from the date of injury to file a Petition to Controvert with the Workers’ Compensation Commission, and the two-year period can also run from the last compensation payment. In Louisiana, a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with a possible extension to three years from the last payment if benefits have been paid.
Keep records from the start: photographs of the machine or scene if you or a coworker can take them, names of witnesses, the equipment’s make and condition, your pay stubs, and every medical record and bill. Do not give a recorded statement to the carrier before you have spoken to a lawyer, and do not sign a medical release broader than the injury. Adjusters sometimes use wide releases to search for old conditions to blame.
Know where your claim will be heard. Mississippi cases are decided by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, not a court, beginning with an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Judge and, on appeal, a review by the Full Commission, which works from the existing record rather than holding a new trial. A final Commission award can be appealed within 30 days, and the Mississippi Supreme Court, which often assigns such cases to the Court of Appeals, hears the appeal. Meridian sits in Lauderdale County, which falls within the Southern District of Mississippi’s Northern Division for federal purposes, though a comp claim itself stays with the Commission. In Louisiana, claims go before a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and a final judgment can be appealed to the appropriate court of appeal on a short deadline, generally 30 days when the appeal suspends the judgment and 60 days when it does not.
Prosthetics, Permanent Disability, and Getting Back to Work
The hardest part of an amputation claim is often the future. A prosthetic limb is not a one-time purchase: sockets must be refit as the residual limb changes, components wear out, and a worker who wants to return to physical labor may need a different device than one designed for walking. Your claim should account for replacement cycles, repairs, and therapy, and disputes over whether a particular device is reasonable and necessary are common. In Louisiana, a denial of requested treatment can be challenged through the utilization review process, which starts with filing Form 1009 within 15 calendar days of written notice of the denial; the medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide, and any further dispute requires Form 1008 within 45 days of the decision.
Return-to-work questions are just as important. A carrier may point to a light-duty position and argue that your wage loss is over. If you cannot earn what you earned before, the law may still entitle you to continuing benefits. Vocational rehabilitation, retraining, and an honest assessment of what work you can perform all bear on the value of the claim, and a settlement that ignores them can leave a worker short for decades.
If someone other than your employer contributed to the injury, such as a negligent driver, an equipment manufacturer, or a contractor who controlled an unsafe site, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp benefits. Those claims carry their own deadlines and fault rules. Louisiana’s delictual actions generally carry a two-year period for injuries on or after mid-2024, and a newer rule bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after the start of 2026. Mississippi uses pure comparative negligence, which reduces recovery by your share of fault, and generally allows three years for negligence claims. Coordinating the comp claim and the third-party claim so one does not undercut the other is part of how the firm handles severe injuries.
Common Questions About Amputation Claims
Is an amputation covered by workers’ compensation even if I was partly at fault?
Yes. Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system, so your own carelessness generally does not defeat a claim. Fault matters in a separate injury lawsuit against a third party, where comparative fault rules can reduce what you recover.
How long do I have to report my injury?
Report it to your employer within 30 days in both Mississippi and Louisiana. Do it in writing if you can and keep a copy.
How long do I have to file a claim?
In Mississippi you generally have two years from the date of injury, or from the last compensation payment, to file with the Workers’ Compensation Commission. In Louisiana a claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with a longer period possible if benefits were paid.
What benefits can I receive after losing a limb?
Medical care including surgery, therapy, and prosthetics, plus wage replacement at two-thirds of your average weekly wage up to the state maximum. Mississippi caps permanent and temporary total disability at 450 weeks, and Louisiana supplemental earnings benefits can run up to 520 weeks.
Will the insurance company pay for my prosthetic?
Reasonable and necessary medical treatment includes prosthetic devices, and that should extend to repairs and replacements over time. Carriers sometimes push for cheaper or less functional devices, which is a common reason to involve an attorney.
What if my employer has fewer than five employees?
Mississippi generally requires coverage for employers with five or more employees, while Louisiana requires nearly every employer to carry coverage, even for a single worker. If your employer was required to carry coverage and did not, talk to a lawyer promptly because other options may exist.
Can I be fired for filing a claim?
Both states protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting your injury, raise it in your consultation.
Do I lose benefits if I had a pre-existing condition like diabetes or poor circulation?
Not automatically. If the work injury caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition that led to amputation, you may still be entitled to benefits. Carriers often raise this argument, and the answer usually depends on medical evidence tied to the specific incident.
Can I also sue the company that made the machine that injured me?
Possibly. Workers’ compensation generally bars suing your employer, but a manufacturer, a contractor, or another third party may be liable. Those claims run on separate deadlines, so they should be evaluated early.
What happens if the carrier says I can go back to work?
A release to light duty does not end your claim if you cannot earn what you earned before. Disputes about your work capacity are decided on medical and vocational evidence, and benefits may continue when you are earning less.
How are attorney fees handled?
Consultations are free and the firm advances case costs. You owe a fee only if benefits or a settlement are recovered, and fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
Representing Amputation Clients in Meridian and Across the Region
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in Meridian and throughout Lauderdale County, as well as in surrounding east Mississippi communities. The firm’s reach extends across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to Hattiesburg, the Gulf Coast, Southaven, north Mississippi, and the Delta, where timber, manufacturing, trucking, construction, and healthcare employers generate a steady flow of serious work injuries.
The firm also represents workers in Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities across south and north Louisiana, where oil field, port, plant, and construction work carry their own amputation risks. Whether your injury happened on a Meridian job site or across the state line, the team can review your claim, explain which state’s rules apply, and take it before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission or a Louisiana workers’ compensation judge.
Talk to a Meridian Amputation Attorney Today
If you have lost a limb, a hand, or fingers on the job, the carrier has already started valuing your claim. A Meridian amputation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your medical records, your wage history, and the circumstances of the accident, and tell you what benefits you should be receiving and whether a second claim exists against someone other than your employer. Call to schedule a free consultation. The line is answered 24 hours a day, Spanish-speaking clients are welcome, and you pay no fee unless the firm recovers benefits for you.
