Olive Branch Manufacturing Plant Injury Lawyer
Olive Branch sits in DeSoto County, where warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants line the corridors near the Tennessee state line, and a plant injury here is handled through the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission rather than a jury courtroom. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers in Olive Branch, across DeSoto County, and throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, and a Olive Branch manufacturing plant injury lawyer from our team can step in between you and an insurance carrier that has already started building its version of what happened.
Plant injuries tend to follow patterns. A press or conveyor catches a hand. A forklift or pallet jack strikes a worker on the floor. A repetitive-motion injury to a shoulder or lower back finally gives out after years on a line. A chemical splash, a burn from heated equipment, or a fall from a platform changes someone’s life in seconds. What comes next is rarely about whether you were hurt. It is about whether the carrier will approve the surgeon, keep the checks coming, and stop blaming an old injury for what the job caused.
These claims also tend to move in stages: the report to your employer, the carrier’s decision to accept or contest, the fight over medical care, and, if the case does not resolve, a hearing before an Administrative Judge. Knowing which stage you are in, and what the next one demands, is most of the battle.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Plant Injury Claim
Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who handle a work injury only when one happens to walk in. This firm was built the other way around, and its attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off before they should have been. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients, 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 from the first call to the end of the case (hablamos espanol).
The people behind that work matter in a contested plant claim. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin, Partner, and Jennifer Priebe, Partner, 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 routinely represents injured workers before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kinds of injuries plants produce: $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. Clients consistently describe a team that listens, communicates, and stays in the fight with the insurance company at every step.
Common Injuries and Claims from Manufacturing Plant Work
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lifting, bending, and repetitive loading on production lines cause lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Carriers frequently point to degenerative disc disease, so the medical evidence has to show how the work caused or aggravated the condition.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears come from overhead work, awkward lifting, and slips on slick floors. Employers sometimes recast these as old sports injuries.
- Fractures: Feet, ankles, hips, and hands are broken by dropped loads, forklift incidents, and falls from platforms or loading docks, and often require specialists and surgical repair.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Heated equipment, chemical exposure, electrical contact, and machine entanglement can leave permanent disability and long recoveries.
- Repetitive-Motion and Cumulative Injuries: Conditions that build over months or years on an assembly line can be compensable when the work caused or worsened them, even without a single dramatic accident.
- Struck-By and Vehicle-Related Injuries: Forklifts, pallet jacks, and delivery trucks around the plant generate injuries that may support a comp claim and, when an outside party is at fault, a separate personal injury claim.
- Fatal Workplace Accidents: When a worker dies on the job, surviving family members may have rights to death benefits and, in some cases, a wrongful death claim against a third party.
What to Do After a Plant Injury in Olive Branch
Get medical attention first, then report the injury to your employer in writing. In Mississippi you must notify your employer within 30 days of the accident, and a verbal mention to a supervisor is easy to dispute later. Put the date, the machine or area, what happened, and the body parts affected in a short written notice, and keep a copy. Mississippi covers you from your first day on the job, with no waiting period or minimum earnings requirement, so a new hire is protected the same way a twenty-year veteran is.
The second deadline is the one that quietly ends claims. If no disability benefits have been paid within two years of the date of injury, the right to benefits is barred unless you file a claim with the Commission during that time. The claim is made by filing a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, and the two years run from the date of injury or the date of the last compensation payment. A carrier that pays a few checks and then goes quiet can leave you closer to that deadline than you realize.
Be careful with the carrier’s adjuster. Recorded statements, broad medical releases, and casual conversations about prior back or shoulder problems are how pre-existing condition defenses get built. You are entitled to ask questions and to speak with a lawyer first. Follow your treating doctor’s restrictions, do not return to duties your physician has not cleared, and keep every record: incident reports, witness names, photographs of the equipment or area, pay stubs, and medical paperwork.
If you are hurt in a plant in Louisiana, the clock is different. You should also report within 30 days there, but a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury, and that period can extend to three years from the last payment when benefits have been paid. Workers who live in DeSoto County but work across the line, or the reverse, should get the right state’s rules identified immediately.
Mississippi comp claims are decided by the Commission, not a court. Disputed cases are heard at an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Judge. A losing party can seek review by the Full Commission, which examines the record already made rather than holding a new trial. A final Commission award can then be appealed within 30 days to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which often assigns the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals, and that review is also confined to the record. Because everything turns on the record, the medical testimony and work history built early in the case decide the outcome later.
How Plant Injury Claims Are Denied and Answered
Carriers rely on a short list of arguments, and most plant claims run into at least one. The first is that the injury did not happen at work, often because no one saw it or the worker reported it days later. The second is that a pre-existing condition, usually degenerative changes on an MRI, explains everything. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim; if the job caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, benefits can still be owed. The third is pressure to return to work before the doctor clears you, and the fourth is a sudden stop in payments without explanation.
Answering those arguments takes more than a denial letter in response. It takes a treating physician who will connect the mechanism of injury to the diagnosis, co-worker accounts of how the work is actually performed, and a clear work history showing the physical demands of the job. In a plant, that can also mean evidence about line speed, staffing, equipment condition, and the repetitive tasks that wore down a joint or spine.
Wage-loss benefits in Mississippi are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly maximum that is adjusted periodically, and for total disability they cannot run longer than 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability in the ordinary case is also capped at 450 weeks. Medical care for the work injury is a separate benefit and is not the same thing as the wage check.
When someone other than your employer contributed to the injury, such as a negligent outside driver, a contractor working in the plant, or a maker of defective equipment, a personal injury claim may exist alongside the comp claim. Mississippi follows pure comparative negligence for those claims, so your own share of fault reduces a recovery rather than erasing it, and the general limitation period for many negligence claims is three years. Coordinating the two claims matters because a settlement in one can affect the other.
Questions About Olive Branch Manufacturing Plant Injury Claims
Do I need a lawyer for a plant injury claim?
Not every claim requires one, but if your benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, a lawyer can change the result. The carrier 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 the costs of the case, and fees are collected only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How soon do I have to report a plant injury in Mississippi?
You must report the injury to your employer within 30 days of the accident. Do it in writing and keep a copy, even if your supervisor already knows about it.
How long do I have to file a claim with the Commission?
Generally two years from the date of injury or the date of the last compensation payment. If no disability benefits have been paid within two years of the injury, the right to benefits is barred unless a claim was filed with the Commission in that window.
Can I be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim?
Both Mississippi and Louisiana protect workers from being fired in 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 review your options.
What if the plant says my injury is just wear and tear?
A pre-existing or degenerative condition does not automatically defeat a claim. If the job caused, worsened, or accelerated it, you may still be entitled to benefits, and strong medical evidence is how that argument is won.
Can I choose my own doctor after a plant injury?
Medical treatment is a major point of dispute in comp cases, and carriers often steer workers toward their preferred providers. Ask us about your options before agreeing to a doctor or a treatment plan, because the opinion of your physician carries real weight at a hearing.
What happens if I was partly at fault for my own accident?
Workers’ compensation is generally not a fault-based system, so carelessness on your part usually does not erase your right to benefits. Fault does matter in a separate personal injury claim against a third party, where Mississippi’s comparative negligence rule reduces your recovery by your share of fault.
Can I sue my employer for a plant injury instead of filing for comp?
In general, workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against the employer for a covered work injury. Claims against outside parties, such as an equipment manufacturer or a negligent contractor, are a different matter and may be pursued in addition to comp.
What if I live in Olive Branch but the plant is in Tennessee or Louisiana?
The state whose law applies depends on facts like where the injury happened, where you were hired, and where the employer is based. Because deadlines and benefits differ between states, get this sorted out early, and we handle claims in both Mississippi and Louisiana.
Can the carrier stop my checks while I am still treating?
Carriers sometimes stop payments, often after a favorable medical opinion from a doctor they selected. A sudden cutoff is a reason to call us promptly, because it may be challenged before the Commission.
Do you represent Spanish-speaking plant workers?
Yes. Hablamos espanol, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call through the end of the case.
Serving Plant Workers in Olive Branch and Across DeSoto County
We represent injured workers in Olive Branch and throughout DeSoto County, including Southaven, Horn Lake, Hernando, Walls, Nesbit, Lake Cormorant, and Years, along with the plant and warehouse corridors that connect them. Our reach extends across north Mississippi and into the Delta, and from there to Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, and the Gulf Coast, so a worker who moves jobs or lives far from the plant is still covered.
The same attention goes to Louisiana, where we handle claims in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities across south and north Louisiana. Whether the injury happened on a production line, a loading dock, or a job site, our team can review your situation, explain what deadlines apply, and take on the insurance company.
Talk to an Olive Branch Plant Injury Attorney Today
If you were hurt in a manufacturing plant, an Olive Branch plant injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your claim, explain which deadlines apply to you, and deal with the employer and insurer while you focus on recovery. 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.
