Lafourche Parish Personal Injury Lawyer | Kopfler & Hermann
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Lafourche Parish Personal Injury Lawyer | Kopfler & Hermann
Experienced Lafourche Parish Personal Injury Attorney
Home » Lafourche Parish
Injured? Joe Knows.
No Fee Unless We Win
Hurt in Lafourche Parish? You focus on healing. We’ll handle the trucking companies, the insurers, and the paperwork. No fee unless we recover money for you.
- Trusted since 1989 — 45+ years fighting for South Louisiana families
- A real person answers 24/7 — no voicemail, no robots, no out-of-state call center
- No junior associates on your case. Joe works with every client directly
- No fee unless we win. Free consultation. Multi-million-dollar recoveries.
37+Years Serving South Louisiana
1989Firm Founded in Houma
MillionsRecovered for LA Families
24/7Live Answering — No Robots
You were hurt in Lafourche Parish — on Highway 1 heading to Port Fourchon, on LA-308 outside Thibodaux, on a supply boat, or in a Cut Off intersection. You need a Lafourche Parish personal injury lawyer who has tried cases in the 17th Judicial District Court and federal court for more than four decades.
Kopfler & Hermann Represents Injured Lafourche Parish Families.
I’m Joe Kopfler. I founded Kopfler & Hermann in Houma in 1989. For more than four decades we’ve represented Lafourche Parish clients — commercial fishermen out of Golden Meadow and Grand Isle, oilfield hands working Port Fourchon, truckers running Highway 1, farmers, teachers, offshore workers, and their families — against the trucking companies, vessel operators, and insurance carriers that hurt them. Our office is at 306 Grinage Street in Houma, thirty minutes north of Thibodaux and an hour from Golden Meadow. When you call, you get me or a lawyer I’ve personally trained.
Lafourche Parish cases move through the 17th JDC in Thibodaux — a different court, different judges, and a different defense bar than what you’ll find in Houma or New Orleans. Thirty-plus years of local trial experience means we know how those cases actually get resolved — and when to push toward trial.
Injured? Call Now — 1-985-851-3311 — a real person answers 24/7. No voicemail. No robot.
Get A Free Consult
Areas We Serve in Lafourche Parish
Kopfler & Hermann represents injured people throughout Lafourche Parish, including:
If your accident happened anywhere in the parish — on Highway 1 heading down the bayou, on LA-308, on LA-3235, at the Port of Fourchon, or on the water off Grand Isle — we can help.
Types of Cases We Handle for Lafourche Parish Families
You don’t pay unless we win. Call 1-985-851-3311 now for a free case review.
Highway 1 and Port Fourchon: Where So Many Lafourche Injuries Happen
Highway 1 is the only road that reaches Port Fourchon — the deep-water hub that services about 90% of the deepwater oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. That single strip of asphalt carries an outsized share of heavy trucking, oilfield equipment, and crew traffic. It also carries an outsized share of catastrophic wrecks. Two-lane stretches, elevated bridges, and fog and rain off the bayou combine into some of the most dangerous driving in Louisiana.
- Highway 1 elevated bridge wrecks — high-speed impacts with limited runoff.
- Oilfield hauler and 18-wheeler collisions — loaded trucks running Fourchon-to-Houma and Fourchon-to-Golden Meadow.
- Rear-end and side-swipe crashes in Galliano, Cut Off, Larose, and Raceland.
- Fatigued-driver wrecks at shift-change hours — especially the 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. windows.
- DUI and drug-impaired collisions — a persistent problem on rural stretches of LA-308 and LA-3235.
If a commercial truck or a company vehicle hit you on Highway 1 or on the roads feeding Port Fourchon, the trucking company’s insurer and its rapid-response team may already be on the ground trying to shape the story. Call 1-985-851-3311 before they lock in a version of events that hurts you.
Louisiana’s Prescriptive Period and Federal Maritime Deadlines
Louisiana used to give injury victims only one year to file suit. For most personal-injury claims arising from accidents on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana extended that period to two years (La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1). For older accidents, the one-year window still applies.
Deadlines for maritime and federal claims are separate:
- Jones Act and general maritime injury: generally three years from injury (46 U.S.C. § 30106).
- DOHSA (Death on the High Seas Act): three years from death (46 U.S.C. § 30302).
- LHWCA (Longshore claims from Port Fourchon dockworkers): generally one year from injury (or from the last payment of comp), with a 30-day employer notice requirement.
- Federal Tort Claims Act (against the U.S. government): two years from the incident.
- Wrongful death and survival claims under Louisiana Civ. Code arts. 2315.1 and 2315.2: prescriptive periods differ — do not assume one year.
Miss the deadline and your right to recover is gone forever. If your accident anniversary is coming up, do not wait. Call 1-985-851-3311 — a real person answers 24/7.
How Cases Move Through the 17th Judicial District Court
The 17th JDC in Thibodaux is Lafourche Parish’s home court — a different bench, different clerks, and a different defense bar than the 32nd JDC in Houma. We’ve tried cases in both. Knowing how a Thibodaux jury sees an oilfield-trucking case, or how a 17th JDC judge handles pretrial motions on premises liability, is the kind of local knowledge you don’t get from a Baton Rouge or New Orleans firm.
- 17th JDC (Thibodaux): most auto, premises, and Louisiana-law claims involving Lafourche Parish residents or incidents.
- Federal court, Eastern District of Louisiana: maritime, Jones Act, LHWCA, and OCSLA claims arising from Port Fourchon and the Gulf.
- Louisiana Workforce Commission (Workers’ Comp): land-based comp claims. Maritime workers are governed by the Jones Act or LHWCA.
You don’t pay unless we win. Call 1-985-851-3311 now for a free case review.
Recent Case Results for South Louisiana Clients
A representative sample of recoveries Kopfler & Hermann has secured for injured clients:
- $2,000,000 — Wrongful Death Dram Shop. Co-counsel with the Beasley Allen Law Firm on a wrongful-death case arising from an over-served intoxicated driver who caused a fatal collision. Resolved for $2 million for the surviving family.
- $665,000 — Lafourche Parish Collision. A serious commercial-vehicle collision resolved in the 17th JDC in April 2019 for $665,000 after accident reconstruction, expert depositions, and mediation.
- $495,000 — Cross-Country Trucker Neck Injury. A cross-country 18-wheel truck driver was broadsided by another 18-wheeler north of Baton Rouge. Required an anterior cervical fusion and discectomy. Settled for $495,000.
- $310,000 — Terrebonne Parish Refrigeration Truck Collision. A commercial refrigeration truck collision in Terrebonne Parish resolved in the 32nd JDC in 2020 for $310,000. FMCSA violations and driver-log evidence drove the recovery.
- $225,000 — Lafourche Parish Teacher Chain Collision. A school teacher injured in a chain-reaction collision in Lafourche Parish. Resolved in the 17th JDC in June 2025 for $225,000.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes — every case is different. But four decades of multi-million-dollar recoveries across South Louisiana tells you what we do.
Why Choose Kopfler & Hermann
- Founded in Houma in 1989. Local to Lafourche Parish for thirty-plus years — thirty minutes from Thibodaux, an hour from Golden Meadow.
- Joe Kopfler personally handles every case. When you hire us, you hire Joe — not a rotating cast of associates.
- A real person answers your call 24/7. No answering service. No week-long callback wait.
- No fee unless we win. You pay nothing up front and nothing at all unless we recover for you.
- Local trial experience in the 17th JDC and federal court. We know how Lafourche Parish cases actually get resolved.
- We move fast to lock down evidence. Trucking dashcam, ELD logs, vessel logs, and CCTV all “disappear” if no one moves quickly. We send preservation letters the same day you hire us.
- Multi-million-dollar recoveries for South Louisiana clients across auto, maritime, offshore, and hurricane claims.
What to Do Right Now if You’ve Been Hurt in Lafourche Parish
- Get medical care. Go — and follow through with every specialist your doctor sends you to. Gaps in treatment are the number-one thing insurance adjusters use to reduce your claim.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurance company. You are not required to. Anything you say can be twisted later.
- Do not sign anything. Not a medical authorization, not a release, not a “quick settlement” check. Once you sign, your rights can be gone forever.
- Save everything. Scene and injury photos, the police or incident report, texts and emails, witness names and phone numbers, and receipts for anything you paid out of pocket.
- Call us before the deadline. Call 1-985-851-3311. The consultation is free. If we take your case, you pay nothing unless we win.
LET JOE FIGHT FOR YOU
If you or a loved one has been hurt, don’t wait. Call Kopfler & Hermann today for a free consultation. A real person answers 24/7 — not a voicemail, not a robot. Joe Kopfler has practiced law in Louisiana since 1977 and has spent more than four decades fighting insurance companies and getting real money for South Louisiana families. You pay nothing unless we win. Your case matters — let’s get it done.
Get A Free Consult Free Case Review
Office Location
Kopfler & Hermann, Attorneys at Law
306 Grinage Street, Suite 400
Houma, LA 70360
Phone: (985) 851-3311 | 1-985-851-3311
24/7 Live Answering | Serving Terrebonne, Lafourche & St. Mary Parish
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is evaluated on its own facts.
Kopfler & Hermann, Attorneys at Law306 Grinage Street, Suite 400
Houma, LA 70360
Phone:
(985) 851-3311 |
1-985-851-331124/7 Live Answering | Serving Terrebonne, Lafourche & St. Mary Parish
The verdicts and settlements referenced are representative of cases handled by Kopfler & Hermann and are not a guarantee or prediction of the outcome of any other claim. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee future outcomes. No fee unless we recover on your behalf; client may be responsible for case costs and expenses. Joseph G. Kopfler is licensed to practice law in Louisiana.
