St. Bernard Parish Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers from St. Bernard Parish and across South Louisiana, handling denied, delayed, and terminated workers’ compensation claims for people hurt at refineries, shipyards, marine terminals, construction sites, and the many other workplaces that keep the parish running. If you work in Chalmette, Meraux, Violet, Arabi, or Poydras and your employer’s insurer has questioned your injury or stopped paying, our team handles the fight with the carrier so that you can concentrate on treatment and recovery.
A St. Bernard Parish workers’ compensation lawyer works within a system with its own courts and its own clocks. Louisiana does not send these disputes to an ordinary civil courtroom. They go to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, where a workers’ compensation judge decides whether benefits are owed. Because the parish sits inside the Fourth Circuit, any appeal from a final judgment travels to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, which covers Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes. The decisions you make in the first weeks after an injury, including who you tell, what you say, and which doctor you see, often determine how that process unfolds.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a St. Bernard Parish Comp Claim
Most lawyers who accept comp cases are personal injury attorneys who take a work injury when one happens to walk in. Workers’ compensation is the center of this firm’s practice, and our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off before they should have been. We serve injured workers throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, starting here in St. Bernard Parish and extending to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and the rest of South Louisiana. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients, and consultations are free. We advance the costs of your case, and you owe no fee unless we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
The results reflect the kind of injuries that cost people their livelihoods. We 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 he was struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Those figures matter in a parish where industrial and marine work is a way of life, because insurers evaluate claims partly by who is standing behind the worker.
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 successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and routinely appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team. Clients consistently describe lawyers who listened carefully, stayed professional, and fought with the insurance company at every step.
Injuries and Claim Types We Handle for St. Bernard Parish Workers
- Back, neck, and spine injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations are among the most common serious comp injuries, especially for workers who lift, climb, and haul equipment. When an insurer blames degenerative disc disease, we build the medical and work-history record showing how the job caused or worsened the condition.
- Shoulder and knee injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears often follow falls, pulling, or repetitive overhead work. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, and we answer that with treating-physician evidence tied to a specific work event or work duties.
- Fractures: Broken feet, ankles, hips, and other bones can require specialists and complex surgical repair, and they can keep a worker off the job far longer than an adjuster’s first estimate suggests.
- Burns and catastrophic injuries: Plants, terminals, and industrial job sites carry fire, chemical, and crush hazards. We have recovered substantial settlements for oil field workers with severe burns, and catastrophic injuries raise questions about permanent disability that demand careful medical documentation.
- Truck drivers and delivery workers: Workers who spend the day on parish roads and the highways feeding the New Orleans metro area face crash injuries on the job, and those cases often involve both a comp claim and a claim against another driver.
- Firefighter and first responder claims: Hypertension, heart and lung disease, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and cancer tied to the job are claims that insurers contest hard, and they require medical proof linking the condition to the work.
- Third-party injury claims: When a negligent driver, contractor, or site owner caused your injury, you may have a personal injury claim in addition to your comp benefits, and we coordinate the two so they work together.
- Wrongful death: When a workplace accident takes a life, the family may be entitled to death benefits under the comp system and may also have a separate civil claim against a responsible third party.
What to Do After a Work Injury in St. Bernard Parish
The first decision is reporting. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless you gave your employer notice within thirty days of the injury, so tell a supervisor right away, make the report in writing if you can, and keep a copy. Do not wait to see whether the pain fades. Insurers treat a gap between the accident and the report as evidence that something happened elsewhere, and a delayed report is one of the easiest ways to hand them a denial. Get medical care promptly, describe the work event accurately to every provider, and make sure the records connect the injury to your job rather than leaving the cause vague.
The second decision is the formal claim. A claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, and if comp payments have already been made, the deadline may stretch to three years from the last payment. Do not count on that extension; the rules have exceptions and an adjuster will not volunteer them. Disputes are heard by a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. Under Louisiana law you choose the venue: 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 can matter for convenience and for which district office handles your case, so it is worth making deliberately with a lawyer rather than by default.
The third decision arises when the carrier denies a medical treatment request, such as surgery, an injection, or physical therapy your doctor ordered. That dispute runs through the utilization review process, and the clock is short. The aggrieved party has fifteen calendar days from receiving written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and the medical director then has thirty calendar days to rule. If you disagree with the medical director’s decision, you have forty-five days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008, and that period runs from issuance, not from the day the letter reached you. Missing either window can leave you without the treatment your doctor says you need.
If a workers’ compensation judge rules against you, the final judgment can be appealed to the court of appeal. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within thirty days, and one that does not suspend it within sixty, measured from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice was mailed, whichever is later. For St. Bernard Parish residents, that means the Fourth Circuit. A further application to the Louisiana Supreme Court is possible but has its own short deadline. Throughout, avoid the mistakes that sink otherwise good claims: giving a recorded statement to the adjuster without preparation, returning to work before your doctor releases you, posting about your activities online, and signing anything that characterizes your injury before you understand what it does to your rights.
How Insurers Contest Claims and What Benefits Look Like
Louisiana requires nearly every employer to carry workers’ compensation coverage, even for a single employee. Benefits include all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you cannot work, supplemental earnings benefits if you return at reduced pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death. The weekly compensation rate is capped under a formula tied to the statewide average weekly wage and is fixed by your date of accident, so it does not change later.
Supplemental earnings benefits deserve particular attention for workers who come back to lighter or lower-paying jobs. When you cannot earn ninety percent or more of your pre-injury wages, you may receive sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the difference between what you earned before and what you earn or are able to earn now. Those benefits can continue until you are released to full duty, return to your pre-injury wages, or reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that limit.
The carrier’s playbook is familiar. They argue the accident did not happen at work, attribute the injury to a pre-existing condition, push you back before your doctor clears you, or stop paying without warning. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim if the job caused, worsened, or accelerated it. Answering these arguments takes treating-physician opinions, witness accounts, and a clear work history, and that evidence is far easier to assemble early than after a denial has hardened.
Questions St. Bernard Parish Injured Workers Ask
Do I need a lawyer for a workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one. 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 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, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury?
You should report it right away, and Louisiana law requires notice within thirty days of the injury. Late notice gives the insurer an argument to deny the claim, so do not wait to see how the injury develops.
How long do I have to file a formal claim in Louisiana?
A claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have been made, the deadline may extend to three years from the last payment. Because exceptions are narrow and easy to misread, speak with an attorney as soon as you can.
Can I choose my own doctor?
Generally you may select a treating physician in your choice of specialty, but the rules about changing doctors and the carrier’s right to request independent exams are technical. Talk to us before switching providers or agreeing to see a doctor the insurer picked.
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 review your options.
What if my injury was caused by a pre-existing condition?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end your claim. If your work caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical evidence is the key to answering that argument.
The insurer denied my surgery. How fast do I have to act?
Very fast. A dispute over a denied treatment request starts with Form 1009, which must be filed with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration within fifteen calendar days of receiving written notice of the denial. The medical director then has thirty calendar days to decide. Waiting even a few weeks can forfeit the review.
I was hurt in a crash while driving for work. Can I get comp and sue the other driver?
Often yes. Your comp claim is against your employer’s insurer regardless of fault, and a separate claim against the negligent driver may be available. Louisiana now bars recovery for a claimant found fifty-one percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, and lesser fault reduces the award proportionally, so how fault is documented matters. The two claims interact, which is why we handle them together.
What if my injury happened across the river or in Mississippi?
Where the injury occurred and where you were hired can affect which state’s law applies. Our firm represents injured workers in both Louisiana and Mississippi, so we can evaluate which system governs your claim. Mississippi, for example, requires notice within thirty days and generally allows two years to file with its Workers’ Compensation Commission.
Will I be paid while the claim is being decided?
If the insurer accepts the claim, weekly wage benefits and medical payments should begin without a court order. If it denies or delays, you may go without income while the dispute proceeds, which is one of the main reasons to involve a lawyer early rather than after months of unpaid bills.
How long does a contested claim take?
It depends on the injury, the medical treatment, and how aggressively the carrier disputes the facts. Some disputes resolve through negotiation, while others require a hearing before a workers’ compensation judge and possibly an appeal. We can give you a realistic picture after reviewing your records.
Serving Injured Workers From Chalmette to the Rest of South Louisiana
Our work for St. Bernard Parish workers begins in Chalmette, the parish seat, and reaches Meraux, Arabi, Violet, Poydras, Braithwaite, Saint Bernard, and the waterfront and industrial corridors along the Mississippi River and the Chalmette area. We also represent injured workers in neighboring Orleans Parish and across the greater New Orleans area, then outward through Jefferson Parish and the River Parishes. Beyond the metro region, we serve workers in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities throughout South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Because we also practice in Mississippi, we help workers who live in one state and are injured in the other, with clients across the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Madison, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi.
Talk With a St. Bernard Parish Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt on the job and the insurance company is denying treatment, disputing your injury, or has stopped paying, a St. Bernard Parish workers’ compensation attorney from our firm can review your situation at no cost and explain what the next deadlines are. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us or send your case details and let us deal with the insurer while you focus on getting well. We help injured workers. That is all we do.
