St. John the Baptist Parish Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A back that gave out on a loading dock, a burn from a unit at a plant along the river, a knee that buckled during a shift, and now a letter from an insurer saying the claim is under review. That is how many St. John the Baptist Parish workers’ compensation lawyer searches begin. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers in Louisiana and Mississippi, including those hurt in St. John the Baptist Parish and the River Parishes around it.
The parish sits in the industrial corridor along the Mississippi River, where plants, terminals, warehouses, and construction crews employ thousands of people, and where heavy labor produces serious injuries. Louisiana law requires nearly every employer to carry coverage, even for one employee, so most workers hurt on these job sites are entitled to medical care and wage benefits regardless of who was at fault. The hard part is rarely whether the system exists. It is getting the insurer to follow it.
That usually means a dispute over whether the injury is work-related, whether treatment is approved, or whether benefits can be cut off. Each of those disputes runs on short deadlines and specific forms, and a worker who misses one can lose ground that is difficult to win back.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a St. John the Baptist Parish Work Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC serves injured workers across Louisiana and Mississippi, from St. John the Baptist Parish and the greater New Orleans area to Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, and across Mississippi from the Gulf Coast to the Delta. Workers’ compensation is the center of the firm’s practice. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who handle a work injury only when one walks in the door. This firm was built the other way around, and its attorneys bring over 75 combined years of experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and there is 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.
The results reflect the kind of injuries that come out of industrial work. 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 to the lower extremities. Other results include $195,000 for a derrickhand with complex shoulder injuries from pulling large pipe and $135,000 for a diesel mechanic with a SLAP tear.
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 tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, and the team also includes Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher. Clients describe a team that listens, answers questions, and stays in the fight with the insurance company at every step.
Injuries and Claims Common to River Parish Workers
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lifting, pulling, and repetitive heavy work produce lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Insurers often blame degenerative disc disease, so the claim depends on medical evidence showing that the work caused or aggravated the condition.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Plants, refineries, and industrial sites carry risks of flash fires, chemical exposure, and equipment failures. These claims can involve long treatment, skin grafts, and permanent disability benefits.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears are common among workers who climb, pull, and kneel. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, which is a defense that has to be answered with medical records and job history.
- Fractures: Falls from scaffolding, trucks, and elevated platforms, and crushing incidents around heavy equipment, can break feet, ankles, hips, and other bones and may require specialist surgical repair.
- Truck Driver and Delivery Injuries: Drivers hauling along the river corridor and the interstates through the parish face wrecks, loading injuries, and cumulative strain. A wreck can also support a separate claim against the at-fault driver.
- Occupational Illness: Conditions that develop from workplace exposure, including lung disease and hearing loss, can qualify for benefits even without a single dramatic accident.
- Wrongful Death: When a worker dies from a job injury, surviving family members may be entitled to death benefits and, if a third party was negligent, a separate civil claim.
What to Do After a Job Injury in the River Parishes
Get medical attention first, and tell the provider the injury happened at work so it is recorded that way. Then report it to your employer. Louisiana requires notice within 30 days of the injury, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury. If the employer or insurer has paid benefits, the filing window can extend to three years from the last payment, but do not count on that exception. Report quickly, in writing if you can, and keep a copy.
Write down what happened while it is fresh: where you were, what you were doing, who saw it, and what equipment was involved. Keep every medical record, prescription receipt, and work-status note. Do not give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster before you understand what the questions are meant to accomplish. Adjusters look for gaps and inconsistencies they can use to argue the accident did not happen at work, or that the problem was already there.
Disputes about treatment follow a specific path. If the insurer denies a medical treatment request, you have 15 calendar days from receiving written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. The OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. If you disagree with that decision, the clock to file Form 1008 is 45 days from the date the decision was issued, and it runs from issuance, not from when you open the envelope. These windows are short, and they are the reason people with denied treatment should call a lawyer quickly.
Under Louisiana law, the worker chooses where the hearing is held: the parish where the injury occurred, the parish where the worker lived when injured, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. Claims are heard by a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. A judgment can be appealed, and for St. John the Baptist Parish the appellate court is the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, which covers Jefferson, St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days; one that does not suspend it must be filed within 60 days, and the delay runs from the day after the judgment was signed or after notice of judgment was mailed, whichever is later.
The most common mistakes are waiting to report, accepting a return to work before your doctor clears you, signing paperwork you have not read, and assuming a denial is the end. Denials are frequently reversed on appeal or at hearing when the medical proof is built properly.
Wage Benefits When You Cannot Return to Your Old Job
Louisiana wage benefits begin with temporary total disability while you cannot work at all. If you recover enough to return but cannot earn what you made before, supplemental earnings benefits may apply. Those benefits equal two-thirds of the difference 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 prior wages. They can continue until you are released to full duty, you are earning your pre-injury wages again, or the 520-week maximum is reached, with temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total.
Weekly benefit rates are capped, and the cap is set each year from the statewide average weekly wage and fixed by the date of your accident. Permanent partial and permanent total disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation, and medical care for the work injury are also part of the system. The insurer decides what it will pay unless someone challenges it, and that is where having counsel changes outcomes.
When Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Injury
Workers’ compensation does not stop you from pursuing a third party whose negligence hurt you, such as a driver who hits your work truck or a contractor who left a site unsafe. For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana’s period for filing a negligence suit is two years from the day the injury was sustained. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and lower fault reduces the award proportionally. That makes early evidence preservation important. The firm handles car and truck accidents, premises liability, and wrongful death cases, and coordinates them with your comp claim so the two do not work against each other.
Questions Injured Workers in St. John the Baptist Parish Ask
Do I need a lawyer for a workers’ compensation claim in Louisiana?
Not every claim requires one. But if benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or stopped, or if the injury will keep you out of work for a long time, a lawyer can make a major difference. The insurer has adjusters and attorneys protecting its interests.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and it is paid only if it recovers benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury?
Louisiana requires notice to your employer within 30 days of the injury. Give it as soon as possible and in writing when you can.
How long do I have to file a formal claim?
Generally one year from the date of injury. If benefits were paid, the deadline may extend to three years from the last payment, but the safe course is to act early.
What does workers’ compensation cover?
All reasonable and necessary medical treatment for the injury, 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.
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 your attorney during the consultation 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 job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Answering this argument with strong medical evidence is a core part of the firm’s work.
The insurer denied my surgery. What are my options?
You have 15 calendar days from receiving written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. The medical director then has 30 days to decide. If that decision goes against you, Form 1008 must be filed within 45 days of the decision’s issuance.
Can I choose my own doctor?
Louisiana gives injured workers a choice of treating physician in many circumstances, and there are rules about changing doctors and about when the insurer can require an examination. Ask about this before switching providers, because a wrong move can complicate approval of your treatment.
Can I still collect benefits if I live in St. John the Baptist Parish but was hurt in another parish?
Yes. The worker elects the hearing venue among the parish of injury, the parish of residence when injured, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business, so where you live can matter to where your case is heard.
If I was partly at fault for my accident, can I still get comp benefits?
Workers’ compensation is generally a no-fault system, so your own mistake does not ordinarily bar benefits. Fault matters more in a separate third-party injury suit, where Louisiana’s 51 percent bar can apply to causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026.
Do you handle Spanish-speaking clients?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Representing Injured Workers Across St. John the Baptist Parish and Beyond
The firm represents injured workers throughout St. John the Baptist Parish, including the communities of LaPlace, Reserve, Garyville, Edgard, Wallace, Mt. Airy, and Pleasure Bend, along with the workers who commute in from neighboring St. Charles, St. James, and Jefferson parishes. From the plants and terminals along the river to the warehouses and construction sites near Interstate 10, the same claim issues come up again and again.
The firm’s reach extends across South Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and north to Shreveport, as well as across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Whatever the parish or county, the work is the same: getting injured workers the medical care and wage benefits the law provides.
Speak With a St. John the Baptist Parish Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt on the job, you do not have to take on the insurance company by yourself. A St. John the Baptist Parish workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your claim, explain the deadlines that apply to you, and take over the dealings with your employer and its insurer. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless the firm recovers benefits for you. Call today to talk through what happened and what comes next.
