Mississippi Slip & Fall Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured people across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, and the Delta, and a Mississippi slip and fall lawyer at the firm starts from a plain fact: a fall on someone else’s property is rarely won on the fall itself. It is won on what the property owner knew, how long a hazard sat there, and whether anyone bothered to fix it or warn visitors. A wet floor, a broken stair, a dark parking lot, or a torn mat is only the beginning of the proof.
The other thing readers searching this topic often do not realize is that the fall may have happened at work. A delivery driver who slips on a customer’s icy loading dock, a nurse who goes down on a freshly mopped hospital hallway, or an ironworker who falls from a poorly maintained platform may have a workers’ compensation claim, a premises liability claim against a third party, or both. The firm has built its practice around injured workers, and that background matters when a fall sits on the line between the two kinds of claim.
How Mississippi Premises Liability Actually Works in a Fall Case
A slip and fall claim in Mississippi is a negligence claim against whoever controlled the property. The first question is always your status when you were hurt, because it sets the duty the owner owed you. A customer in a store, a patient in a clinic, or a tenant’s guest is generally owed reasonable care and a reasonably safe place to be. A trespasser is owed far less. Someone on the property for a business purpose, like a contractor or a driver making a delivery, is typically treated as an invitee, which is the category that carries the strongest protection.
Having the right status is not enough. You also have to connect the owner to the hazard. In practice that means showing one of three things: the owner or an employee created the dangerous condition, the owner actually knew about it and did nothing, or the condition existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it. That third route, constructive notice, is where most fall cases are fought. A spill that appeared ten seconds before you stepped in it is a hard case. A puddle under a leaking cooler that employees walked past for an hour is a different one. Inspection logs, cleaning schedules, surveillance video, and employee testimony become the heart of the file.
Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence. If the insurer argues you were looking at your phone, wearing the wrong shoes, or ignoring a posted warning, that argument does not automatically end the claim. It reduces your recovery by your share of the fault. Insurers lean on this heavily, which is why how you describe the fall in your first recorded statement matters so much.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Mississippi Fall Injury Claim
The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients and represents people in personal injury, premises liability, car and truck accidents, and wrongful death matters alongside its workers’ compensation work. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and there is no fee unless benefits or a settlement are recovered. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language, since hablamos español.
Rob Lunsford, the 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. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and has argued personal injury and insurance cases before state appellate courts. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results are relevant to anyone hurt in a fall. The firm secured $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 with back injuries after being struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Back, neck, shoulder, knee, and hip injuries are exactly what hard falls produce, and the firm has built medical evidence in those cases against insurers who blame degeneration or an old injury. Clients consistently describe the team as easy to work with, thorough in listening to their situation, and willing to stand up to the insurance company at every step.
Injuries and Fall Scenarios the Firm Sees in Mississippi
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Landing hard on a hip or back can herniate a lumbar or cervical disc. Insurers often respond that the condition is degenerative, so the claim depends on medical evidence showing the fall caused or worsened it.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Reaching out to catch yourself can tear a rotator cuff or SLAP lesion, and twisting on a wet surface is a common source of ACL and meniscus tears. These injuries often need surgery and months of therapy.
- Hip, Ankle, and Foot Fractures: Broken bones from falls on stairs, loading docks, and uneven pavement frequently require specialists and surgical repair, and they keep people off their feet for a long time.
- Retail and Restaurant Falls: Spilled drinks, freshly mopped aisles, produce on the floor, and rain tracked in through entrances at grocery stores, big-box retailers, and restaurants are classic constructive-notice cases.
- Parking Lot and Walkway Hazards: Potholes, broken curbs, poor lighting, and cracked sidewalks at shopping centers, apartment complexes, and medical offices raise questions about who maintained the area, a landlord, a management company, or a tenant.
- Falls on Job Sites and Industrial Property: Oil field, plant, warehouse, and construction falls can give rise to both a comp claim and a third-party claim against a contractor or property owner who is not your employer.
- Falls on Government Property: A fall on a county-owned or public building walkway falls under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, which carries a one-year limit and a notice requirement that private-property claims do not.
- Wrongful Death After a Fall: A serious fall, especially for an older person, can end in death. Mississippi allows a wrongful death claim for negligence within three years, with a shorter period for intentional torts.
What to Do After a Fall, and the Deadlines That Control the Claim
Get medical care first, and tell the provider exactly how the fall happened and where you hurt, including pain that seems minor. Gaps and vague descriptions in early records are what insurers use later to argue the injury came from somewhere else. If you can do so safely, photograph the spot where you fell, the shoes you were wearing, any warning signs or the lack of them, the lighting, and whatever caused the fall. Ask for the names of anyone who saw it. Report the fall to the manager or owner and ask that an incident report be written, but do not give a recorded statement to the owner’s insurer before you have talked to a lawyer. Surveillance footage is often overwritten within days, so an early written request to preserve it can decide whether the video exists at all.
The deadlines depend on what kind of claim you have. Most private-property negligence claims in Mississippi must be filed within three years of the fall under the general limitations statute, and a latent injury may be measured from when it was or should have been discovered. A claim against a county or other governmental body must be brought within one year and requires notice under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, which is a trap for people who assume they have three years. If the fall happened while you were working, the workers’ compensation rules apply instead: you must report the injury to your employer within 30 days, and you generally have two years to file a petition with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Coverage begins on your first day on the job, and wage benefits run at up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum and not beyond 450 weeks for total disability.
Where the case is filed depends on the claim. A premises liability suit in the Jackson area goes to state court, often the Hinds County Circuit Court, whose First Judicial District sits in Jackson and whose Second sits in Raymond. Cases with parties from different states can land in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, which holds court in Jackson, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, and Natchez, or the Northern District, which sits in Oxford, Aberdeen, and Greenville. Comp disputes go before an Administrative Judge at the Workers’ Compensation Commission, then the Full Commission, then the Mississippi Supreme Court, which often assigns the appeal to the Court of Appeals. The most common mistakes are waiting too long, posting about the fall on social media, accepting a quick low settlement before the full extent of the injury is known, and treating a work fall as only a comp claim when someone else’s negligence also contributed.
When a Fall at Work Also Becomes a Third-Party Claim
Workers’ compensation pays regardless of fault, but it does not pay for pain and suffering, and it cannot be brought against your employer in court. When someone other than your employer caused the hazard, that person can be sued in addition. A subcontractor who left a floor opening uncovered, a property owner who let a loading ramp rot, a cleaning company that mopped without signage, or a landlord who ignored a broken railing can all be third parties.
Handling both tracks takes coordination. What you say in the comp claim can be used in the injury case, and a settlement in one can affect the insurer’s repayment rights in the other. The firm handles workers’ compensation and personal injury together so the two claims support each other rather than collide.
Common Questions About Mississippi Slip and Fall Claims
How long do I have to file a slip and fall lawsuit in Mississippi?
For most private-property negligence claims, three years from the date of the fall. Claims against a county or other government body must be filed within one year and require notice under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. If the fall happened at work, workers’ compensation deadlines apply instead.
Do I have to prove the owner knew about the hazard?
You must show the owner created the hazard, actually knew about it, or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection because it had been there long enough. Inspection records, cleaning logs, and video are usually how that gets proven.
What if I was partly at fault for my fall?
Mississippi uses pure comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault rather than eliminated. A claim where you were found partly responsible can still produce a meaningful recovery.
Will the property owner’s insurance pay my medical bills?
Not automatically. The insurer owes nothing until fault is established, and adjusters often push for early statements and releases. Your own health coverage can pay for treatment in the meantime, though it may have repayment rights from a later settlement.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances the case costs, and fees are paid only if benefits or a settlement are recovered.
I fell at work. Is that a workers’ compensation claim or a slip and fall lawsuit?
Usually comp first, because your employer’s coverage applies from your first day. If someone other than your employer caused the hazard, you may also have a separate injury claim against that person or company.
Does a pre-existing back problem ruin my claim?
No. If the fall caused, worsened, or accelerated a condition, you can still recover. Insurers raise degenerative disc disease constantly, and answering it with strong medical evidence is a regular part of the firm’s work.
What if the store has video of my fall?
Video can help or hurt, and either way it should be preserved. A written preservation request sent promptly can keep it from being overwritten. Do not assume a clip is harmless before an attorney reviews it.
Can I still bring a claim if I fell on a rental property or at an apartment complex?
Often yes. The question is who controlled the area where you fell, the landlord, a management company, or a maintenance contractor, and whether they knew or should have known about the problem.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a fall with a broken bone but no surgery?
It often is. Even without surgery, fractures bring lost work, therapy, and future complications that early offers do not reflect, and insurers value represented claims differently from unrepresented ones.
What happens if the person who fell later dies from the injuries?
The family may bring a wrongful death claim. In Mississippi that is generally three years for negligence, shorter for intentional torts, and noneconomic damages are capped in most wrongful death cases while economic damages are not.
Serving Mississippi Slip and Fall Clients Statewide
The firm represents injured people throughout Mississippi, beginning in Jackson and Hinds County and extending to Madison, Clinton, Byram, Terry, Raymond, and the communities around them in the Jackson metro. From there the work reaches Rankin County and Brandon, Flowood, and Pearl, then out to Vicksburg, Canton, and Yazoo City. We serve clients in Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Meridian, across the Pine Belt, and along the Gulf Coast from Gulfport and Biloxi to Ocean Springs and Pascagoula.
In north Mississippi, the firm helps clients in Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, Tupelo, Oxford, and Corinth, and in the Delta it represents people in Greenville, Cleveland, Clarksdale, and Greenwood. We also work with clients in Natchez, McComb, Brookhaven, Columbus, and Starkville. A fall in a Gulf Coast casino parking garage, a Delta grain facility, or a Jackson hospital stairwell raises the same core question of who controlled the property and what they knew, and the team handles those claims wherever in the state they arise.
Talk to a Mississippi Slip and Fall Attorney Today
If you were hurt in a fall on someone else’s property, or you fell on the job and are not sure whether you have one claim or two, a Mississippi slip and fall attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain which deadlines apply to you, and move quickly to preserve evidence before it disappears. Call the firm any hour of the day, schedule a free consultation, and pay nothing unless a recovery is made on your behalf.
