Raceland Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A Raceland work injury claim is decided far from Raceland. Raceland sits in Lafourche Parish, but the hearing happens before an Office of Workers’ Compensation judge, and any appeal travels to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, which covers Lafourche along with Terrebonne, Assumption, St. Mary and a dozen other parishes. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC handles Raceland workers’ compensation lawyer work for injured employees in Raceland, Lafourche Parish and across South Louisiana, and the firm also represents injured workers throughout Mississippi.
That distance matters because the people who control your claim, the adjuster, the insurer’s defense lawyer and the nurse case manager, usually do not live in your community and will never see the rig, the boat, the plant floor or the job site where you got hurt. What they see is paper: a recorded statement, medical records, and whatever your employer wrote on the incident report. The way the first weeks of a claim are documented often decides how the whole case goes.
Raceland and the surrounding bayou country draw their paychecks from industries where injuries are heavy and sudden: marine fabrication and shipyards, offshore and oilfield support, sugarcane and agricultural work, pipeline and industrial construction, trucking, and the refineries and plants within driving distance. These are physical jobs, and the claims that come out of them tend to involve spines, shoulders, knees, burns and fractures.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Lafourche Parish Comp Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm, not a general practice that takes comp cases when they walk in. The firm represents injured workers in Lafourche Parish, the rest of South Louisiana, and across Mississippi, and it stays focused on one thing: getting medical care approved and wage benefits paid when an insurer has denied, delayed or cut them off.
Rob Lunsford, 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 successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when a carrier will not move without a judge in the room. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kinds of injuries Raceland workers suffer. 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 injured when his work vehicle was struck, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Clients consistently describe a team that listens, answers questions and fights the insurance company at every step. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, you owe 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.
Injuries and Claims Common to Raceland and Lafourche Parish Workers
- Back, Neck and Spine Injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations are the backbone of this practice. Insurers routinely blame degenerative disc disease, so the claim depends on medical evidence tying the injury to a specific lift, fall or years of heavy labor.
- Shoulder and Knee Tears: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, ACL tears and meniscus tears are common among deckhands, derrickhands, welders and pipefitters. Employers sometimes label them old sports injuries, and the response is a clear treatment history and a doctor’s causation opinion.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Plants, refineries and drilling sites produce severe burns, crush injuries and amputations. These claims involve long treatment, specialist care and benefits that can run for years.
- Fractures: Broken feet, ankles, hips and other bones from falls off equipment, scaffolding and vessels often require surgery and extended time away from work.
- Trucking and Driving Accidents: Delivery and truck drivers hurt on the road may have a comp claim and a separate injury claim against the at-fault driver, and the two need to be handled together.
- Occupational Illness and Repetitive Trauma: Hearing loss, lung conditions and cumulative joint injuries develop over time, which makes the date of injury and notice to the employer harder to pin down.
- Firefighter and First Responder Claims: Hypertension, heart and lung disease, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress and job-related cancers can all give rise to claims.
- Denied or Terminated Benefits: Payments stopped without warning, treatment refused, or a push back to work before your doctor clears you are all grounds to challenge the carrier.
What to Do After a Work Injury in Lafourche Parish
Report the injury to your employer right away, in writing if you can. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless the employer gets notice within 30 days of the injury, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If the carrier has paid benefits, that deadline can stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on that cushion. Mississippi has the same 30-day notice rule, with two years to file a claim with its Workers’ Compensation Commission, so workers hurt on a job that crosses the state line should get advice quickly.
Get medical care and tell every provider the injury happened at work. Be specific about how it happened and which body parts hurt, because vague first records are what adjusters quote later. Keep copies of everything: incident reports, work restrictions, pay stubs, mileage and out-of-pocket costs. Be careful with recorded statements to the insurer; you are allowed to speak with a lawyer first.
Louisiana lets the worker choose where the case is heard: the parish where the injury happened, the parish where you lived when you were hurt, or the parish of your employer’s principal place of business. That choice affects which district office handles the case and how convenient it is for you, and it is worth making deliberately with an attorney.
Deadlines inside a denied claim are short. If the carrier denies a treatment recommendation through utilization review, the dispute form must be filed with the Office of Workers’ Compensation within 15 calendar days of the written denial. After the medical director rules, you have 45 days from the date of the decision to take the next step. Missing these windows can cost you treatment you were entitled to, and they are among the most common mistakes injured workers make on their own.
If a workers’ compensation judge rules against you, the judgment can be appealed to the court of appeal, with a 30-day window for an appeal that suspends the judgment and 60 days for one that does not. Appeals from this region go to the Louisiana First Circuit, and a party can then ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review by writ within 30 days of notice of the judgment. Do not return to work against your doctor’s restrictions to prove you are tough; it hands the insurer the argument that you are fine.
How Louisiana Wage Benefits Work When You Cannot Go Back to Your Old Job
While you are completely unable to work, you receive temporary total disability, generally two-thirds of your average wage, up to a weekly maximum fixed by the date of your accident. When you can work again but at lower pay, supplemental earnings benefits come into play. Those benefits are based on the difference between what you earned before and what you earn or are able to earn now, and they apply when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wages. They can continue until you are released to full duty, return to your old earnings, or reach the 520-week cap, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that cap.
Insurers fight supplemental earnings benefits by claiming you could earn more than you do, often relying on a job survey listing positions you cannot physically perform. Challenging that evidence with your actual restrictions and work history is a large part of the job. Medical care is a separate track: all reasonable and necessary treatment is covered, and a denied surgery or medication can be contested on its own.
Common Questions From Injured Workers Near Raceland
Do I need a lawyer for a Raceland workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim needs one, but you should talk to a lawyer if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced or stopped, or if the injury will keep you out of work for a long time. The insurer has adjusters and defense counsel working for it, and you should have someone working for you.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and you pay only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report and file in Louisiana?
Report the injury to your employer within 30 days, and file a formal claim within one year of the accident in most cases. If compensation payments have been made, the filing period may extend to three years from the last payment.
Can my employer fire me for filing a claim?
Louisiana and Mississippi both protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were fired, demoted or disciplined after reporting an injury, tell your attorney so the circumstances can be reviewed.
What if the insurer says my injury is a pre-existing condition?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim. If your work caused, worsened or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed. Strong medical opinions linking the job to your current condition are the answer to this defense.
Where will my case actually be heard?
Louisiana comp claims go before a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, which operates district offices around the state. You elect among the parish of injury, your parish of residence at the time, or your employer’s principal parish, and the choice determines which district office hears the case.
What if I was hurt by someone other than my employer?
If a negligent driver hit your work truck or a contractor created an unsafe site, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp. Louisiana’s tort deadline for injuries on or after July 1, 2024 is two years, and earlier injuries fall under the old one-year period. Fault also matters: for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing in a tort case.
Does a third-party claim hurt my comp benefits?
The two claims run on different rules and different clocks, and handling them separately can create problems with reimbursement to the comp carrier and with settlement timing. The firm coordinates both so one does not undercut the other.
Will my health insurance pay while my claim is pending?
Work injuries are the comp carrier’s responsibility, and health insurers often resist paying for them. If the carrier is stalling on treatment, you may need to push through the utilization review process rather than let your care stop. Tell your attorney about any bills sent to your personal insurance.
What if I was hurt on a job in Mississippi but live in Louisiana?
Which state’s law applies depends on where the job was based and where the contract of hire was made. The firm practices in both states, so it can evaluate which system gives you the stronger claim. Mississippi pays up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a statutory weekly maximum and not beyond 450 weeks in total disability cases.
Can I work with the firm in Spanish?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call through the end of the case.
Serving Injured Workers Across Raceland, Lafourche Parish and South Louisiana
The firm’s Lafourche Parish work starts in Raceland and reaches the neighboring communities along Bayou Lafourche, including Thibodaux, Lockport, Mathews, Gheens, Larose, Cut Off, Golden Meadow, Galliano and Port Fourchon, where so much of the offshore support industry operates. Beyond Lafourche, the firm represents workers in neighboring Terrebonne Parish, including Houma, and in Assumption, St. Charles, Jefferson and Orleans parishes, as well as Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles. It also serves workers in Shreveport and throughout north Louisiana.
Across the state line, the firm represents injured workers in Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast and the Delta, along with north Mississippi. Whether the injury happened on a vessel off the coast, at a plant in the river parishes or on a job site far from home, the firm can take the claim.
Talk With a Raceland Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today
If you were hurt on the job and the insurer is denying care, cutting off checks or questioning how it happened, speak with a Raceland workers’ compensation attorney before you give another statement or accept a settlement offer. Call Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC, where consultations are free, phones are answered around the clock, and you pay no fee unless benefits are recovered. Tell the team what happened, and they will tell you where your claim stands and what comes next.
