Slidell Personal Injury Lawyer
A crash on I-10 near the I-12 interchange, a fall on a job site in St. Tammany Parish, or a work truck hit by a distracted driver can leave you with medical bills and no paycheck almost overnight. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a law firm that represents injured people across Louisiana and Mississippi, handling workers’ compensation, car and truck accidents, premises liability, and wrongful death claims for clients in Slidell and throughout St. Tammany Parish and South Louisiana.
If you are searching for a Slidell personal injury lawyer, the first thing to understand is that the injury claim and the facts behind it are often tangled together. A person hurt while working may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate claim against a negligent third party. A person hurt as a passenger or pedestrian may be dealing with a carrier that is already building its fault argument. The decisions you make in the first few weeks, what you tell an adjuster, whether you keep treating, who you notify, shape what is possible later.
Louisiana also changed the rules on fault recently. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and fault below that line reduces the award proportionally. That makes the early evidence about who did what matter more than it used to.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Slidell Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers and accident victims in Slidell, across St. Tammany Parish, and throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. Most lawyers who take workers’ compensation cases are personal injury lawyers who handle a work injury only when one walks in the door. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for its clients.
That focus matters in injury cases because so many of them overlap with a job. Results include a $685,000 settlement 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. The project manager’s case is exactly the kind where a comp claim and a third-party injury claim have to be handled together.
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. Clients describe a team that listens, answers questions, and fights the insurance company at every step.
The practical terms are simple. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of your case, and you pay no fee unless there is a recovery. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language (hablamos español).
Injury Situations We Handle for Slidell Clients
- Car and Truck Accidents: Slidell sits where I-10, I-12, and I-59 converge, and U.S. 11 and Gause Boulevard carry heavy local and commercial traffic. Rear-end collisions, lane-change crashes, and wrecks involving tractor-trailers often involve disputed fault, which now matters more under Louisiana’s 51 percent bar.
- Work-Vehicle Crashes: When a delivery driver, project manager, or truck driver is hit while on the job, you may have workers’ compensation benefits and a claim against the other driver. Coordinating the two so one does not undercut the other is a core part of this work.
- Workers’ Compensation Injuries: Back, neck, shoulder, and knee injuries, fractures, and burns from industrial and construction settings. Louisiana benefits include medical care, wage replacement, supplemental earnings benefits, and added benefits for permanent disability.
- Premises Liability: Falls from unsafe walkways, poorly maintained stairs, and hazards at stores, apartment complexes, and job sites where a property owner or contractor, not your employer, controls the danger.
- Wrongful Death: When a family loses someone to a crash or a workplace incident, Louisiana law sets deadlines for both wrongful death and survival actions, and getting an attorney involved early protects evidence.
- Catastrophic Injuries and Burns: Industrial accidents, plant incidents, and rig injuries that require specialists, long recoveries, and careful valuation of future care.
- Firefighter and First Responder Claims: Job-related hypertension, heart and lung disease, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and cancer, which insurers frequently contest.
What to Do After an Injury Near Slidell
Start with medical care, and tell every provider how the injury happened. Gaps in treatment and vague histories are what carriers use to argue the injury was something else. If the injury happened at work, report it to your employer right away. In Louisiana, notice to the employer is required within 30 days of the injury, and a formal workers’ compensation claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments were made, that deadline can stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on it.
For a non-work accident, call the police so there is an official report, photograph the scene, the vehicles, and your injuries, and get names and contact information from witnesses. Be careful with the other side’s insurer. Adjusters will call quickly, sound friendly, and ask for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one, and what you say can later be used to assign you fault. With the 51 percent bar in place, a casual remark like “I didn’t see him until the last second” can do real damage.
Slidell is in St. Tammany Parish, which falls within the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal’s territory, and workers’ compensation cases from this part of the state are heard in the Office of Workers’ Compensation system, with appeals going to the First Circuit. Where a worker files a hearing is a choice the law gives you: the parish where the injury occurred, the parish where you lived when hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. Federal claims in this region are filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana, which includes St. Tammany Parish.
If your workers’ compensation medical treatment is denied, the clock is short. A utilization review dispute must be filed within 15 calendar days of written notice of the denial, and after the medical director rules, you have 45 days from the issuance of that decision to take the next step. Missing these windows is one of the most common ways valid claims are lost.
How Fault and Time Limits Shape a Louisiana Injury Claim
For most injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana gives you two years from the day the injury or damage is sustained to bring a tort claim. Injuries before that date remain under the older one-year period. Wrongful death follows a different rule: one year from the death or two years from the day the injury was sustained, whichever is longer, and survival actions follow the same rule under the 2025 changes. A wrongful death claim based on medical malpractice remains limited to one year from the date of death.
The fault rule is the other big shift. Under the 51 percent bar, if a jury finds you 51 percent or more responsible, you take nothing, and jurors are told that. Below that threshold your award is reduced by your share. For anything arising before January 1, 2026, Louisiana’s older pure comparative fault system still applies. This is why early evidence, such as dash cam footage, scene photos, and witness statements, carries so much weight in Slidell crashes where both drivers blame each other.
When the injury is work-related, the benefits structure is different from a tort claim. Wage replacement is two-thirds of average weekly wages up to a maximum set each year by the state and fixed by the date of your accident. Supplemental earnings benefits are available if you come back at reduced pay and cannot earn 90 percent or more of your pre-injury wages, and they can run up to 520 weeks, with temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total. A final judgment from a workers’ compensation judge can be appealed to the court of appeal, generally within 30 days of notice when the appeal suspends the judgment.
Slidell Personal Injury Questions Answered
Do I need a personal injury lawyer if I was hurt in a car accident in Slidell?
Not every minor fender bender requires one, but if you have a significant injury, if fault is disputed, or if the other driver’s insurer is pressuring you for a statement, an attorney can change the outcome. Louisiana’s 51 percent bar makes fault arguments more consequential than ever.
How much does it cost to hire Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and you pay a fee only if there is a recovery.
How long do I have to file an injury lawsuit in Louisiana?
For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, the general tort period is two years from the day the injury or damage is sustained. Earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. Because exceptions and different rules apply, speak with an attorney as soon as you can.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, being 51 percent or more at fault bars recovery entirely. If you are below that line, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. Earlier accidents fall under pure comparative fault, where recovery is reduced but not barred.
I was hurt in a work vehicle. Is that workers’ comp or a personal injury claim?
Possibly both. If another driver caused the crash, you may receive workers’ compensation benefits from your employer’s carrier and also pursue the at-fault driver. The two claims have to be coordinated so that one does not undermine the other.
How soon must I report a work injury in Louisiana?
Report it to your employer right away, and no later than 30 days after the injury. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with a possible extension to three years from the last payment if benefits were paid.
Can a workers’ compensation claim and an injury claim happen at the same time?
Yes. They run on separate tracks with different rules, deadlines, and decision makers. Handling them under one roof helps keep the facts consistent and the strategy aligned.
What happens if my workers’ comp medical treatment is denied?
You have 15 calendar days from written notice to file a dispute through the utilization review process, and the medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. A further step must be taken within 45 days of that decision. These deadlines are strict.
Will my health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?
Often it can, though your health insurer may later seek reimbursement from a settlement, and for work injuries the comp carrier is generally responsible for treatment. Tell your providers how the injury occurred and discuss billing with your attorney so you do not create problems for the claim.
What if a family member died in a crash or on the job?
Louisiana allows wrongful death and survival claims, generally governed by one year from the death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer. Medical-malpractice-based wrongful death claims remain limited to one year from death. Talk to a lawyer promptly, since evidence and deadlines both matter.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a smaller injury claim?
If your injuries are minor and resolved quickly, you may not need one. If you are still treating, missing work, or hearing “pre-existing condition” from the insurer, a consultation costs nothing and can tell you whether the claim is bigger than it looks.
Serving Slidell Injury Clients Across St. Tammany Parish and Beyond
Our work for Slidell clients extends across St. Tammany Parish and the surrounding South Louisiana communities. We represent injured people in Slidell and the neighborhoods along Gause Boulevard and U.S. 11, and in the nearby St. Tammany Parish communities of Mandeville, Covington, Abita Springs, and Pearl River. We also serve clients across the Northshore and in neighboring Washington and Tangipahoa Parishes, as well as in New Orleans and the rest of South Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles. Across the state line, the firm represents injured workers and accident victims throughout Mississippi, including Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, and the Delta, and in north Mississippi as well as north Louisiana and Shreveport.
Talk to a Slidell Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you have been hurt in a crash, on the job, or because of someone else’s carelessness, a Slidell personal injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, explain which deadlines apply, and tell you honestly what your claim may be worth. 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 let us deal with the insurance company while you focus on getting better.
