New Orleans Scaffold & Ladder Accident Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in New Orleans and across South Louisiana and Mississippi, handling workers’ compensation claims and the third-party injury cases that often sit beside them. A New Orleans scaffold and ladder accident lawyer is often needed because falls from height rarely produce a simple claim. They produce fractured heels, shattered wrists, herniated discs, and rotator cuff tears, and insurers tend to answer with questions about what the worker was doing up there.
Orleans Parish has a steady supply of elevated work: renovation of old shotgun houses and multi-story historic buildings, hotel and tower projects, church and school restoration, shipyard and dockside work, and industrial maintenance along the river. Scaffolds get erected fast on tight urban lots, ladders get set on uneven ground, and the person who is hurt is frequently working for a subcontractor, with a general contractor, a property owner, and an equipment supplier all in the picture.
That layered arrangement matters. Workers’ compensation will usually cover medical care and wage benefits regardless of who caused the fall, but it is not always the only source of recovery. Whether a second claim exists depends on who built the scaffold, who owned it, who controlled the site, and whether a piece of equipment failed.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Fall-From-Height Injury
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers throughout South Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, as well as Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, and the Delta in Mississippi. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury lawyers who see them occasionally; this firm was built the other way around.
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. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when a fall also supports a lawsuit against someone other than the employer.
The results are directly relevant to what falls do to the body. The firm obtained $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, and $385,000 for a project manager with back injuries after being struck in his work vehicle. It also recovered $195,000 for a derrickhand with complex left shoulder injuries and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Clients consistently describe a team that listens, communicates, and stands up to the insurance company. The firm works on a no recovery, no fee basis, offers free consultations, advances case costs, answers phones 24 hours a day, and speaks Spanish: hablamos español.
Injuries and Claim Types That Follow Scaffold and Ladder Falls
- Fractures of the Heel, Ankle, Hip, and Wrist: Landing feet-first or bracing with an outstretched hand is the classic pattern. These injuries can require specialists, hardware, and repeated surgery, and they often end a worker’s ability to return to climbing, standing, or carrying.
- Lumbar and Cervical Disc Injuries: A fall or a sudden catch on a guardrail can herniate a disc. Insurers frequently blame degenerative disc disease, so the claim depends on medical evidence tying the injury to the event or to years of heavy work.
- Shoulder and Knee Tears: Grabbing a rung or a frame to break a fall commonly produces rotator cuff and SLAP tears, and twisting landings produce meniscus and ACL tears. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, and we answer with imaging and treating-physician opinions.
- Head and Catastrophic Injuries: Falls from multi-story scaffolds can cause traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, or death. Louisiana workers’ compensation includes additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, and death.
- Scaffold Collapse and Equipment Failure: Missing planks, unsecured bracing, overloaded platforms, and defective components can point to a third party such as the erecting contractor, an equipment supplier, or a manufacturer.
- Ladder Slips and Kicked-Out Bases: Soft ground, wet surfaces, damaged rails, and ladders used at the wrong angle all produce falls. Whether the ladder was supplied by the employer or the worker affects who may be responsible.
- Struck-By and Falling-Object Injuries: Tools or materials dropped from a scaffold above can injure workers below, which can create claims against whoever controlled the overhead work.
- Wrongful Death: When a fall is fatal, family members may be entitled to death benefits under workers’ compensation and may also have a separate wrongful death claim against a negligent third party.
What to Do After a Fall From a Scaffold or Ladder
Get medical care first, and tell every provider that the injury happened at work and how. Records written in the first hours carry weight, and a vague history such as “back pain” gives an insurer room to argue the injury is unrelated to the fall. If you can, photograph the scaffold, ladder, planking, guardrails, and the ground beneath them before anything is dismantled, and write down the names of coworkers who saw it happen or who knew the equipment was unsafe.
Report the injury to your employer promptly. In Louisiana, notice should go to the employer within 30 days of the accident, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury. If workers’ compensation payments have been made, that deadline may extend to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an exception. Do the same in Mississippi if the job crossed state lines: notice within 30 days, and a petition filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years.
Be careful with recorded statements. Adjusters often call within days and ask where you were standing, whether you checked the ladder, and whether you had been told to use a harness. Those questions are building a fault narrative. In workers’ compensation, fault generally does not defeat a claim, but a careless answer can still be used to dispute how the accident happened. You are entitled to talk to a lawyer before giving a statement.
If you are told to see only the company doctor, or your treatment is denied, there is a formal process. A medical treatment denial in Louisiana can be disputed by filing Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice, after which the OWC medical director has 30 days to decide. A party who disagrees with that decision has 45 days from issuance to file Form 1008. These windows are short and run from specific events, so a denial letter should go to a lawyer right away.
Hearings on contested claims are held before a workers’ compensation judge. A final judgment can be appealed to the Louisiana Court of Appeal; for Orleans Parish that is the Fourth Circuit, and for Jefferson Parish the Fifth Circuit. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days, and one that does not suspend it within 60 days.
When a Scaffold or Ladder Fall Is More Than a Comp Claim
Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your own employer in most situations, but it does not protect everyone else on the site. A general contractor that is not your employer, a company that rented out a defective scaffold, a manufacturer of a failed ladder, or a property owner who controlled the hazard may face a separate injury lawsuit. That lawsuit can recover things comp does not, including pain and suffering and full lost earning capacity.
Louisiana’s tort deadline for injuries on or after July 1, 2024, is two years from the day the injury is sustained; earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. Louisiana also now bars recovery when a claimant is found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, and lower fault reduces an award proportionally. Because insurers will point to a worker’s own choices on a ladder or scaffold, early evidence about guardrails, training, and equipment condition can decide whether that threshold ever comes into play.
The two claims also interact. Comp insurers often have a right to be repaid from a third-party recovery, and a settlement signed carelessly in one case can damage the other. Our personal injury lawyers handle both so the claims support each other. When a fall is fatal, a wrongful death action in Louisiana is generally filed within one year of death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer.
Common Questions About Scaffold and Ladder Accident Claims in New Orleans
Do I have a workers’ compensation claim if I fell because of my own mistake?
Generally yes. Workers’ compensation is not a fault-based system, so slipping, misjudging a step, or failing to secure a ladder does not by itself disqualify a claim. Benefits can be challenged in limited situations, but carelessness alone is not the standard.
What does workers’ compensation pay after a fall?
In Louisiana it covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you cannot work, supplemental earnings benefits if you return at reduced pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death. Weekly rates are capped under a limit set by the date of the accident.
How long can I receive supplemental earnings benefits?
Supplemental earnings benefits are available when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wages, and they run until you are released to full duty, are earning your old wages again, or reach the 520-week maximum. Weeks of temporary total disability count toward that maximum.
How long do I have to report a fall and file a claim?
Report to your employer within 30 days in both Louisiana and Mississippi. In Louisiana a claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, and in Mississippi within two years. Exceptions exist when benefits have been paid, but do not rely on them.
Can I sue someone besides my employer?
Possibly. If a contractor, equipment supplier, manufacturer, or property owner other than your employer contributed to the fall, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp benefits. Identifying those parties early matters because evidence at job sites disappears quickly.
The insurer says my back problem is pre-existing. Is my claim over?
No. If the fall caused, worsened, or accelerated a condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Insurers raise this argument constantly with disc injuries, and answering it with imaging and strong treating-physician testimony is a core part of what we do.
What if my employer fired me after I reported the fall?
Both Louisiana and Mississippi protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review the circumstances.
What if the scaffold was erected by a different company than my employer?
That can open a claim against the erecting contractor or the party that controlled the site. Records of who built, inspected, and approved the scaffold become important, and we move to preserve them early.
What happens if my claim is denied or my treatment is refused?
A denied claim can be taken before a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and a treatment denial has its own fast dispute process with a 15-day filing window. After a judgment, appeals go to the Louisiana Court of Appeal, and the Louisiana Supreme Court can be asked to review further.
Will being partly at fault reduce a third-party recovery?
In a lawsuit against a third party, your share of fault can reduce the award, and for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, fault of 51 percent or more bars recovery entirely in Louisiana. That does not affect your workers’ compensation benefits, which do not depend on fault.
Do you represent Spanish-speaking workers?
Yes. Hablamos español. Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case, which matters on construction crews where many workers are never told their rights.
What does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
Serving Scaffold and Ladder Injury Clients Across New Orleans and Beyond
We represent injured workers across Orleans Parish, from the French Quarter and the Central Business District to the Garden District, Uptown, Mid-City, and Gentilly, and along the river from the Marigny and Bywater to the Lower Ninth Ward, Algiers, and New Orleans East. We also serve clients in neighboring Jefferson Parish and throughout the greater New Orleans area, including Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, Gretna, and Chalmette.
Our work reaches across South Louisiana to Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Houma, and north to Shreveport and north Louisiana. In Mississippi, we represent injured workers in Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Whether the fall happened on a renovation in the Marigny, a refinery turnaround, or a Gulf Coast construction site, the same questions apply: who was responsible for the equipment, and what benefits are owed.
Talk to a New Orleans Scaffold Accident Attorney Today
If a fall from a scaffold or ladder has left you hurt, out of work, or fighting an insurer over treatment, a New Orleans ladder accident attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened and explain which claims you may have. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us or send your case details and let us deal with the insurance company while you focus on getting well.
