New Orleans Warehouse Worker Injury Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers throughout Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, and the rest of South Louisiana, and a good share of those clients work inside distribution centers, cold storage facilities, and freight yards. If you were hurt stacking pallets, driving a forklift, loading a trailer, or pulling orders on a conveyor line, you need a New Orleans warehouse worker injury lawyer who understands how these claims are actually fought, not just how they are filed.
Warehouse injuries rarely look dramatic on an incident report. A lumbar disc gives out after months of lifting. A shoulder tears from reaching overhead thousands of times a shift. A knee is torn when a pallet jack shifts on a wet dock. Because there is often no single cinematic moment, insurers pounce on the gap: they say the worker was already degenerating, that nobody saw it happen, or that it was an off-the-job strain. Answering those arguments with medical records and a clear work history is the heart of this kind of case.
Louisiana law gives you real protection when it is used correctly. Benefits can include all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you cannot work, and supplemental earnings benefits if you come back at lower pay. The harder part is getting an adjuster to honor those benefits without a fight.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Warehouse Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm that serves injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who see them only occasionally. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients, and consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of your case, and you pay 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, which matters in an industry where many warehouse employees are Spanish speakers.
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, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results track the injuries warehouse workers actually suffer. The firm secured $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury and $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. Back and spine cases are the backbone of warehouse claims, and clients regularly describe being listened to, kept informed, and backed up when the insurer pushed back.
Common Warehouse Injuries and the Claims They Produce
- Lower Back and Disc Injuries: Repetitive lifting, awkward loading, and twisting under weight cause lumbar herniations and aggravate worn discs. When an insurer blames degenerative disc disease, the answer is showing how years of physical labor or a specific incident caused or worsened the condition.
- Forklift and Pallet Jack Accidents: Crush injuries, pinned legs, and tip-overs happen on busy docks and in tight aisles. These can involve fractures of the feet, ankles, and hips that require specialists and complex surgical repair.
- Shoulder Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs and SLAP tears come from overhead stocking and pulling heavy loads. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, so medical evidence tying the tear to the job is essential.
- Knee Injuries: Meniscus and ACL tears follow slips on wet floors, missteps off dock plates, and awkward pivots with a load in hand.
- Falls From Height: Falls from loading docks, ladders, mezzanines, and the backs of trailers cause fractures, head injuries, and spinal damage.
- Struck-By and Falling Merchandise: Improperly stacked racking and shifting loads injure workers below, and these cases often involve someone other than your employer.
- Delivery and Yard Truck Accidents: Workers who shuttle trailers, load trucks, or make deliveries can be hurt in wrecks on the job, which may support both a comp claim and a separate injury claim against the at-fault driver.
- Cumulative Trauma: Neck, wrist, and spine conditions that build over months of repetitive motion are still compensable when work caused or accelerated them.
What to Do After a Warehouse Injury in Louisiana
Tell your employer about the injury right away, and in writing if you can. Louisiana requires notice to the employer within 30 days of the injury, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury. If compensation payments have already been made, that deadline may stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an exception. A late report is one of the easiest ways for an insurer to deny an otherwise valid claim.
Get medical care and be specific with every provider about how the injury happened at work. Vague histories get used against you later. Keep copies of everything: incident reports, text messages with supervisors, work schedules, pay stubs, and the names of coworkers who saw the accident or know the physical demands of your job. Do not give a recorded statement to the insurer before you understand what you are being asked, and do not accept a return to work that your doctor has not cleared.
Disputes over treatment have their own short clock. If the insurer denies a treatment request through utilization review, the aggrieved party has 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation, and the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008. Those windows are unforgiving, which is a strong reason to call a lawyer the moment treatment is refused.
How a Contested Claim Moves Through the Louisiana System
Louisiana comp disputes are heard by workers’ compensation judges at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, not by a jury. That choice can matter, so it should be made deliberately.
If the judge rules against you, a final judgment can be appealed to the Louisiana courts of appeal. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within thirty days, and one that does not suspend it within sixty days, with the delay running from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice was mailed, whichever is later. Appeals from cases arising in Orleans Parish go to the Fourth Circuit, while Jefferson Parish cases go to the Fifth Circuit. A party can then ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review by applying for a writ within 30 days of notice of the judgment.
Many warehouse claims never reach a trial. They resolve through settlement once the medical picture is clear, and a settlement should be evaluated against your future care, your earning capacity, and the benefits you would otherwise be entitled to for the rest of your claim.
Wage Benefits When You Cannot Return to Your Old Job
Warehouse work is physical, and a back or shoulder injury can end your ability to do it even after you recover enough to do lighter work. Temporary total disability benefits replace wages while you are completely unable to work. If you return to lighter duty at lower pay, or cannot earn at least 90 percent of what you made before, supplemental earnings benefits pay two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn. Those benefits can continue until you are released to full duty, you return to pre-injury wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum, with weeks of temporary total disability counting toward that limit.
Weekly benefit rates are capped, the cap is set by the date of your accident, and it is adjusted periodically under state law. Insurers also sometimes claim you can earn more than you actually can by pointing to jobs you could not realistically get. Challenging that with real vocational evidence is a common part of these cases.
Questions Warehouse Workers Ask Us
Do I need a lawyer for a warehouse injury claim in New Orleans?
Not every claim needs one, but if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, a lawyer can change the outcome. The insurer has adjusters and attorneys protecting its interests, and you should have someone protecting yours.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and fees are collected only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Attorney fees in Louisiana workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury and file a claim?
Report to your employer within 30 days of the injury. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, though payments made by the insurer can extend that to three years from the last payment.
What if my warehouse employer says I was injured somewhere else?
This is a common denial tactic. Witness accounts, timing of your first complaint, medical records, and your work history are used to show the injury came from the job.
Can my claim be denied because of a pre-existing back condition?
No, not automatically. If your job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical evidence is what answers this argument.
Can I be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim?
Louisiana protects 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 your options.
I was hurt by a forklift driven by a temp agency worker or a contractor. Can I sue anyone besides my employer?
Possibly. Comp is generally your remedy against your own employer, but a negligent third party, such as an outside contractor, an equipment maker, or a driver who hit your work vehicle, may be liable in a separate injury claim. The two claims need to be coordinated.
If I was partly at fault for my own warehouse accident, can I still get benefits?
Workers’ compensation is generally not a fault-based system, so carelessness on your part does not usually defeat a comp claim. Fault does matter in a separate third-party injury lawsuit, and for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, Louisiana bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault, with lower percentages reducing the award proportionally.
The insurer denied my surgery. What can I do?
Treatment denials are challenged through utilization review. You have 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation, so act quickly and get your doctor’s support in writing.
Will my health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?
Often group health insurers will pay and then seek reimbursement if the comp claim is later accepted, but practices vary. Tell your providers it is a work injury and talk with your attorney before relying on health coverage for surgery.
What if I am a Spanish speaker and not comfortable with English?
Hablamos español. Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
How long does a contested warehouse injury case take?
It depends on your medical course and how hard the insurer fights. Cases involving surgery usually do not settle until you reach maximum medical improvement, because the value of the claim depends on what your recovery looks like.
Serving Warehouse Workers Across New Orleans and South Louisiana
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers throughout New Orleans and Orleans Parish, from the industrial corridors along the river and the Industrial Canal to the distribution facilities in the eastern part of the city. We also serve workers in Jefferson Parish and communities such as Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, and Gretna, in neighboring St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Plaquemines Parishes, and across South Louisiana including Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles. The firm also serves injured workers in north Louisiana, including Shreveport, and across Mississippi, from the Gulf Coast and Hattiesburg to Jackson, Madison, Southaven, and the Delta.
Speak With a New Orleans Warehouse Injury Attorney Today
If you were hurt on a dock, in an aisle, or behind the wheel of a forklift, you do not have to deal with the insurance company by yourself. A New Orleans warehouse injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain what benefits apply to you, and take over the fight with your employer and its insurer. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call today and tell us what happened.
