Landau Injury Law

If you are in a crash and your car is damaged, do not expect the insurance company to pay “full value” for: the vehicle, the remainder of your loan, or for your inconvenience in getting the repairs done. Our FREE REPORT helps those with car-crash cases get fair compensation from the insurance companies. Send for your copy today.

Under Virginia law, the at-fault driver (or their insurance company) is responsible for the LESSER of the fair replacement value or repair. Auto body shops are not all the same; knowing what happens “behind the scenes” could save you time, money, and headaches.

Kiplingers Personal Finance reports that…

1. Before you decide to have your car repaired at a particular shop, check the local Better Business Bureau and government consumer affairs offices for complaints or other problems. Some mechanics blame missed deadlines on delays in parts delivery. However, the unfortunate truth is that some shops take on more business than they can handle in a timely fashion. You may also want to know if they have the parts you need in stock or what their delivery time will be.

2. Generic or salvage parts are sometimes used to make repairs. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts are designed to match precisely. They may also be safer. Car insurance companies prefer that repair shops use generic or salvage replacement parts because they are cheaper. If a crash is your fault, your insurance contract may say that aftermarket parts can be used. Or, your policy may state that if you use OEM parts, you are responsible to pay the difference in price. But if someone else is at fault in crashing into you, tell the repair shop to use OEM parts. (more…)

Dangerous Dog Registry is Latest Effort

Virginia has a Web site that lets citizens find dogs in their
county that have attacked a person or an animal and which a
judge has decided could cause injury again. The Virginia
Dangerous Dog Registry, modeled after the state’s sex-offender
registry, displays their mug shots, misdeeds, and addresses.

However, despite reports in the national press about the
killings of a toddler and an elderly woman in Virginia, the law
protects dog owners from liability for a first attack. Virginia is
one of 17 states that have a “One Free Bite Rule.” In other
words, the injured person must show that the dog owner knew
or should have known that the animal was dangerous by
presenting proof of prior bites! If you are the victim of a dog’s
first attack, in Virginia, the defendant might not be found
liable.

In a case involving an elderly Virginia woman who was
knocked down by a dog, we were able to get her compensation
by showing that the dog had nipped at neighbors and had other
“prior bad acts.” The Fairfax County Circuit Court judge noted
that we did not need to show a prior bite, only that the owners
had notice as to the dog’s dangerous propensities.

Forgive me. I am one of those people who need a picture or diagram to understand process and procedure. A diagram or flow chart enables me to grasp multi-step processes and then explain them to my clients.

For example, I show the steps necessary to prevail in a Social Security Disability Income claim as a hurdles race.“

I explain that before the Administrative Law Judges enters a “Fully Favorable Opinion,” the client must clear not most, but ALL of the “hurdles” and get all the way to “the finish line.” By showing and explaining how they must get past the steps (the “hurdles”) the SSA looks at:

Are you engaged in Substantial Gainful Employment [“SGA”] ?

Do you have a serious disability ?

Is your disability expected to last 12 months or more or result in death ?

Are you able to do past relevant work ?

Are you able to do any SGA ?
(more…)

If a law firm does not get referrals from past clients, lawyers, doctors, other professionals then they must constantly generate “new leads.” If they do not get “repeat customers” because of poor service or shoddyu quality representation, then they advertise on television, billboards, magazines, in the yellow pages or other phone books. This causes a vicious cycle.

These “Volume Law Firms” pay a lot of money for this advertising, since they do not have a solid, long-term referral network. Because of all the money that is spent on advertising, these firms generally take a volume of cases. They often do not have the time to properly work the cases up. They are under constant pressure to settle in order to pay the advertising bills. And so the clients lose when the lawyers need to pay for advertising takes priority over the cases. Cases are settled before they are “ripe” and ready. Clients are rushed to settle for less than full value. Money is not invested in the cases, and very little time is expended because of the pressure to “close files” and collect the money. By way of example, in the 1990’s, when a law firm purchased the back pages of the 5 boroughs of New York City’s Yellow Pages cost $500,000 per year ! (more…)

Doug Landau has been involved in a number of cases that turn on the question of whether the injured worker is an “Employee” or an “Independent Contractor.” Sometimes this question is not as easy as it sounds. At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we have researched this question on behalf of clients from all over the world. Not every worker injured on the job is entitled to workers comp, especially if they are not “employees,” but “independent contractors.”

Generally, an individual “‘is an employee if he works for wages or a salary and the person who hires him reserves the power to fire him and the power to exercise control over the work to be performed. The power of control is the most significant indicium of the employment relationship.’” Behrensen v. Whitaker, 10 Va. App. 364, 367, 392 S.E.2d 508, 509 10 (1990) (quoting Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Gill, 224 Va. 92, 98, 294 S.E.2d 840, 843 (1982)); see also Stover v. Ratliff, 221 Va. 509, 512, 272 S.E.2d 40, 42 (1980). It has been said that the right of control includes not only the power to specify the result to be attained, but also the power to control

the means and methods by which the result is to be accomplished.

An employer/employee relationship exists if the party for whom the work is to be done has the power to direct the means and methods by which the other does the work. If the latter is free to adopt such means and methods as he chooses to accomplish the result, he is not an employee but an independent contractor.

The Landau Law Shop makes careful inquiry into the facts of each case. Every person’s claim is unique. Over the many years he has been trying cases on behalf of injured workers, Herndon lawyer Doug Landau has observed that independent contractors often:

wear their own uniforms,
supply their own tools,
work for other General Contractors,
are paid via 1099s,
do not have taxes taken out of their pay,
do not have independent access (or keys) to the work sites,
do not have set hours,
do not have private offices at the work site,
can hire their own help without the input of the general contractor,
have their own company or name posted at the work site.

That’s right, Doug Landau gave out underwear at the Trial Lawyers National Convention !

Why would he do this ?

To encourage lawyers from all over the United States to send in their legal briefs, forms, memoranda, case reports and tips to help other disabled Americans.

As Chairman of the ATLA Social Security and Disability Law Section, Virginia Trial Lawyer Doug Landau made a promise to the other attendees. Rather than giving the “shirt off his back,” he had boxer briefs made for all who contributed. By the end of the Annual Convention in Seattle, all of Landau’s “briefs” had been (more…)

With the advent of the Medicare Coordination of Benefits (COB) section, counsel for the claimants must consider and work with Medicare issues in nearly every Workers Compensation settlement.

COB’s mandate, to enforce federal statutes and regulations so as to recover health care payments by the Medicare program during the pendency of an injury claim or identify another party who should be liable for such payments, has not been the subject of significant litigation, but the cases that have been handed down are sobering to say the least. Doug Landau has written about pro-ration of weekly wage loss benefits (more…)

The following is an outline of considerations with regard to the receipt of Medicare benefits by workers compensation claimants pre- and post-settlement. The Centers for Medical and Medicare Services (“CMS”) and Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) rules for workers compensation claimants who are (or become) eligible for Medicare benefits can be simplified as follows:

1. If Medicare payments have been made
A. CMS has a lien that must be satisfied by:
i. Total reimbursement, or
ii. By negotiation with CMS

2. If future medical expenses are part of a WC settlement, then
A. Medicare payments will not be made for injury-related care
B. Until t hat portion of settlement allocated for future care, normally covered by Medicare, is used up

3. If medical care is NOT covered under claim, or
4. Payment cannot reasonably be expected promptly
A. Conditional Payment may be made by Medicare

5. If medical care is not related to injury claim (more…)

An ABRAMS LANDAU client who was partially disabled after back surgery relocated to California from Maryland. She then had a brain aneurysm which rendered her totally disabled. When the Insurance Company tried to cut off her benefits, the Workers Compensation Commission ruled in favor of the employee. The Commission found that as she was disabled due to “two causes,” and one was related to the on the job accident, she could continue to receive benefits under the Award Doug Landau won for her after a Hearing in the Alexandria Court house.

There are several cases from the Workers Compensation Commission addressing the two causes rule: Leadbetter, Inc. v. Penkalski, 21 Va. App. 427, 427, 464 S.E.2d 554 (1995); Henrico County Sch. Bd. v. Etter, 36 Va. App. 437, 446-47, 552 S.E.2d 372, 376 (2001) (”The extent or degree to which the work-related cause contributed is not important. It matters only that the work-related cause contributed in some part to claimant’s disability.”)

Other cases that talk about the “two causes rule” include: Ford Motor Co. v. Hunt, 26 Va. App. 231, 237-38, 494 S.E.2d 152, 155 (1997); Amelia Sand Co. v. Ellyson, 43 Va. App. 406, 414, 598 S.E.2d 750 (2004); Shelton v. Ennis Bus. Forms, Inc., 1 Va. App. 53, 55, 334 S.E.2d 297, 299 (1985); Papco Oil Co. v. Farr, 26 Va. App. 66, 75, 492 S.E.2d 858 (1997); Bergmann v. L&W;Drywall, 222 Va. 30, 32, 278 S.E.2d 801, 803 (1981); Ford Motor Co. v. Hunt, 26 Va. App. 231, 238, 494 S.E.2d 152 (1997)