Northshore Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A fall from scaffolding in Mandeville, a back injury on a shrimp boat out of Slidell, a crushed hand at a shipyard near Covington: when work hurts you on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the insurance adjuster usually calls before the surgeon does. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across St. Tammany Parish, the rest of the Northshore, and communities throughout South Louisiana and Mississippi.
If you are looking for a Northshore workers’ compensation lawyer, the first thing to know is where your case will be decided. Louisiana does not send comp disputes to a regular civil court. They go to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, where a workers’ compensation judge hears the evidence. Because Northshore parishes sit in the First Circuit, any appeal from that judge’s ruling goes to the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal.
The adjuster handling your claim does this every day. The deadlines are short, the denial reasons are predictable, and early mistakes are hard to undo. What follows covers how these claims actually unfold on the Northshore and what you can do about it.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Northshore Comp Claim
Most lawyers who accept comp cases are personal injury attorneys who take one when it walks in. This firm is built the opposite way. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and you owe no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and we speak Spanish: hablamos español.
Rob Lunsford, our Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both Partners, 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 tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Results matter more than adjectives. We secured $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury and $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury. We recovered $385,000 for a project manager hurt when his work vehicle was struck, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Our clients consistently mention the same things in their reviews: we listened, we stayed professional, and we went to the mat with the insurance company at every step.
Injuries and Claims We See From the Northshore Workforce
The Northshore economy runs on construction, healthcare, marine work, trucking, and the trades. Different jobs produce different injuries, and different insurers argue different things.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Herniated lumbar and cervical discs are among the most common comp claims, especially for construction crews, hospital staff lifting patients, and delivery drivers. Insurers often blame degenerative disc disease; the answer is medical evidence showing that the work caused or aggravated the condition.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears often follow repetitive overhead work or a bad step on an uneven job site. Employers sometimes call them old sports injuries, and we meet that argument head on.
- Fractures: Broken ankles, feet, and hips from falls off ladders, roofs, and loading docks can require specialist surgery and months away from work.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Industrial plants, oil and gas operations, and welding work expose workers to burns and crush injuries that change a career permanently.
- Truck and Vehicle Accidents on the Job: Drivers and field employees working the I-12, I-10, and I-59 corridors can face a wreck caused by someone else, which may support both a comp claim and a separate injury claim.
- Firefighter and First Responder Conditions: Heart and lung disease, hypertension, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and job-related cancer all fall within the claims we handle.
- Repetitive Strain and Occupational Illness: Conditions that build up over months or years are often disputed because there is no single dramatic accident date.
What to Do in the Days After a Northshore Work Injury
Get medical care first. Then report the injury to your employer in writing, and do it quickly. Louisiana requires notice to your employer within 30 days of the injury, and the claim itself generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have already been made, that deadline can stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on that exception. Waiting is the single most common way a valid claim gets weakened.
Write down what happened while it is fresh: the date, the location, who saw it, what task you were doing. Keep copies of every medical record, work restriction, and piece of correspondence from the insurer. If your employer pushes you to say the injury happened at home, or to use health insurance instead of comp, do not agree.
Your claim will be handled through the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. Under Louisiana law, you choose where a hearing is held: the parish where you were hurt, the parish where you lived when injured, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. That choice can matter, and it is one we make with you deliberately.
If the insurer refuses a treatment your doctor recommends, a clock starts immediately. A dispute over medical treatment goes to the OWC medical director on Form 1009, and it must be filed within 15 calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial. The 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 short, and they run from issuance, not from when you finally read the letter.
How a Disputed Louisiana Comp Case Moves Forward
Most claims begin with benefits being paid, or not paid, and a disagreement about something specific: whether the accident happened at work, whether the condition is pre-existing, whether you can return to your old job, or whether you need the surgery your doctor ordered. When the dispute cannot be resolved informally, a claim is filed with the OWC and a workers’ compensation judge takes it up.
Evidence drives the outcome. That means treating physician records, diagnostic imaging, witness statements, and your work history. Insurers frequently send injured workers to doctors of their own choosing, and those opinions can contradict your treating physician. Part of our job is to build the record so the judge sees the full picture.
Wage benefits depend on where you are in recovery. While you are temporarily unable to work, you receive temporary total disability benefits. If you return to work but earn less because of the injury, supplemental earnings benefits can make up part of the difference. They are calculated as two-thirds of the gap between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, and they apply when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your old pay. Supplemental earnings benefits can continue until you are released to full duty, you return to pre-injury wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum, with any temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total. The weekly rate ceiling is set each year and is fixed by your accident date.
A judge’s final decision can be appealed. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days, and one that does not suspend it within 60 days, counted from the day after the judgment was signed or notice was mailed, whichever is later. For Northshore cases, the appeal goes to the First Circuit, and a further request for review by the Louisiana Supreme Court must be made within 30 days of notice of the First Circuit’s judgment. We handle these appeals when an unfair ruling needs to be challenged.
Northshore Workers’ Comp Questions, Answered
Do I need a lawyer for a Northshore workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one. But if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if your injury will keep you out of work for an extended time, an attorney can change the result. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers 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, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report a work injury in Louisiana?
Report it to your employer as soon as possible, and no later than 30 days after the injury. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, though payments already made can extend that window.
What happens if my employer says the injury did not happen at work?
That is one of the most common denial reasons. We counter it with witness accounts, prompt medical records documenting how you were hurt, incident reports, and your work history. A delay in reporting makes this harder, which is why early written notice matters.
Can I still get benefits if I had a prior back or knee problem?
Often, yes. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim. If your job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical evidence connecting the work to the change in your condition is what carries these cases.
Can I be fired for filing a claim?
Louisiana protects workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation so we can look at your options.
Can I choose my own doctor?
Louisiana generally gives you a choice of treating physician within the system, and the insurer may still request an examination by its own doctor. Which opinion the judge trusts can decide your case, so the choices you make early on are worth discussing with an attorney.
What if the insurance company denies the surgery my doctor recommended?
You have 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the OWC. The medical director then has 30 calendar days to rule. Missing the 15-day window can cost you leverage you cannot easily get back.
Can I file a lawsuit in addition to my comp claim if someone else caused my injury?
Possibly. If a negligent driver, a contractor, or another outside party caused your injury, you may have a personal injury claim alongside your comp benefits. Louisiana’s period for most injury lawsuits is two years for injuries occurring on or after July 1, 2024, and earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. We coordinate the two claims so they work together.
Will fault on my part cost me my comp benefits?
Workers’ compensation is generally a no-fault system, so carelessness on your part does not by itself defeat a claim. Fault matters in a separate third-party injury case. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, Louisiana bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault, and lower percentages reduce the award proportionally.
My family member died from a work-related accident. What can we do?
Death benefits are part of Louisiana comp, and a wrongful death claim against a third party may also exist. Wrongful death generally prescribes one year from the death or two years from the day the injury was sustained, whichever is longer. Speak with us promptly so nothing is lost.
Can I still get help if I work on the Northshore but live in Mississippi?
Yes. We represent injured workers in both states, and where the claim belongs depends on where you work, where you were hired, and where you were hurt. We sort that out at the start.
Serving Injured Workers From Covington to Slidell and Beyond
Our team represents injured workers throughout St. Tammany Parish, including Covington, Mandeville, Slidell, Abita Springs, Madisonville, Lacombe, Pearl River, and Folsom, and across the wider Northshore into Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes, including Hammond, Ponchatoula, Amite, and Bogalusa. Many Northshore residents commute across the lake to jobs in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, and we handle those claims as well.
Beyond the Northshore, we serve South Louisiana from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and north to Shreveport. In Mississippi, our clients come from Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Whatever your trade, from construction and marine work to nursing, trucking, and firefighting, we handle the claim.
Talk to a Northshore Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today
If you were hurt on the job, the clock is already running on your reporting deadline and on any dispute with the insurer. A Northshore workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain what the law entitles you to, and take over the fight with your employer and its insurer. Call us any time, day or night. Consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you.
