Landau Injury Law

Instead of paying for legal advice or leaving a lawyer’s office owing money, many Landau Law Shop clients conclude their first meeting Herndon lawyer Doug Landau smiling, because the insurance company owes them money. How is this possible ?

In the majority of workers compensation cases, the insurance companies and employers do not volunteer information about ALL of the benefits an injured employee is entitled to after an on the job accident. Most clients who visit with Doug Landau have been underpaid, and they don’t even know it ! Many have never seen the OFFICIAL ACCIDENT REPORT, which lists their wage rate and benefits. Most have never seen (more…)

Marjorie Landau Hirshberg, New York trial lawyer Paul Rheingold and Herndon, Virginia trial lawyer Doug Landau of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., with the ATLA HALL OF FAME plaque presented posthumously to Doug’s father, Norman J. Landau. Mr. Rheingold, who practices in New York City, was the co-author with Norman Landau of the seminal books, “The Environmental Law Handbook,” and “Toxic Torts.”

The close up of the ATLA HALL OF FAME plaque presented posthumously to Doug’s father, Norman J. Landau in recognition of his outstanding career as one of America’s finest trial lawyers, teachers, writers and mentors. While ATLA can boast over 70,000 members presently, there were only a dozen members of the Hall of Fame, and no inductees in the last several years, before the late Mr. Landau’s nomination. The firm’s name, ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., is derived from Doug Landau’s Grandfather William L. Abrams, and his father, Norman J. Landau. Herndon, Virginia trial lawyer Doug Landau is the third generation of lawyers in his family, and he hopes to carry on the tradition of excellent service to his clients, the courts and the profession.

We have had several recent cases where our clients were injured very seriously, or killed, by negligence drivers who had little or no car insurance. 

In one example, our client was run down by a cab while riding his bicycle.  Because the cabbie only had $100,000 in insurance coverage and few assets, we looked to our client’s own personal insurance policy to see if we could collect under his “Underinsured Motorist” coverage.  In other words, if our client had paid for more than $100,000 in coverage, then he could collect the excess from his own insurance carrier. 

For example, if he had purchased $500,000 in Under/Uninsured Motorist coverage, he could have collected up to $400,000 in additional benefits !  But, because his policy limits were the same as the negligent driver, his recovery was limited, and the case was settled for less than the potential jury verdict range.

When the driver who causes an accident has little or no insurance, and has little in the way of personal assets that can be collected with a Court judgment, we look to our own client’s insurance policies to see if they have paid for additional protection for themselves and their loved ones.  This protection is known as “Uninsured Motorist Coverage” and “Underinsured Motorist Coverage.”  With this type of insurance, if you are injured by someone with no insurance (or in a “hit and run” accident) then YOUR OWN INSURANCE COMPANY steps into the shoes of the other driver, may defend the claim, and can pay the judgment, up to, and only up to the limits of coverage you have purchased.  If your insurance company pays a judgment or settles the case, they can then pursue the other driver in order to get their money back in what is known as a “subrogation claim.”  Collecting the judgment then is no longer your problem if you have this insurance in sufficient amounts.  Protection of yourself, your assets and your loved ones is the reason that these parts of your car insurance policy are so very important.
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In workers compensation cases, even experienced lawyers make the mistake of not including perks (fringe benefits) in the calculation of the injured workers average weekly wage. Perks such as; housing, transportation, food, uniforms, etc. can, and often do have a very real value to the employee. In Virginia, such things as health, disability and life insurance, if provided by the employer, are not included in the average weekly wage. In a recent ABRAMS LANDAU case, the insurance company tried to get credit for an injured worker’s insurance even though she had never gotten comp benefits for her pre-injury health insurance.
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In this Fairfax Hospital case, the question was simply:

If the employee does not get credit for insurance in her compensation rate, does the Insurance Company get credit for insurance she gets in subsequent employment?
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No one at the Landau Law Shop will ever forget the attacks of 9/11. The deaths caused by the terrorists continued long after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Our client was a highly skilled welder with top security clearance. He volunteered to fly to the Pentagon to repair the damage caused by the terrorist attack. While maneuvering a steel beam, the metal tonnage shifted and fell on our client. He sustained multiple blunt injuries that caused his death at George Washington University Hospital, according to the District of Columbia Medical Examiner’s Report. (more…)

1. The Fourth of July started off with a bang for some Northwest Corner residents — the bang of a starter’s gun at the annual Run-Around-the-Lake. Well, actually there wasn’t a gun. That would have been too noisy for what has to be one of the quietest races in the world.

What started some 20 years ago as an activity of the Salisbury Winter Sports Association has evolved into a contest that is quintessentially New England: No one talks about it, there is no publicity and the organizers secretly hope that no one will show up.

A few calls to the Lakeville Town Grove on the day before the race elicited only the vaguest bits of information about the event. “If runners show up, we have the race. If they don’t show up, there’s no race,” a woman said, and then hung up the phone.” Twenty dedicated runners (including several triathletes and, curiously, three mothers-of-four-children) did show up, and the race was run. Times were relatively slow, in part because of the high heat and humidity on Tuesday morning.

“I’m carrying about two extra pounds of water weight,” Tom Donley said as he crossed the line. Sweat from his shirt and shorts was draining down his legs and arms.

The race starts at Lakeville’s Lake Wononscopomuc, goes up to The Hotchkiss School, heads down Indian Mountain Road and swings back up around Holley Street by the Wagner-McNeil Insurance Agency and back to the lake.

Courtesty of the Lakeville Journal, 07-05-2006 — By CYNTHIA HOCHSWENDER
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Working in a car auction house can be dangerous. An ABRAMS LANDAU client was able to get a substantial workers comp settlement after having her legs crushed as she was helping to prepare a vehicle for sale.

The claimant was an Auction Company’s employee who suffered severe crush injury to her legs when another employee struck her while moving a car at a Dulles public sale site. Because the driver was a co-worker, (more…)

Even in the best of retail stores, accidents can happen. Doug Landau and the ABRAMS LANDAU team was able to help a Nordstrom’s saleswoman who was injured when a glass wine bucket shattered, deeply cutting her left wrist and right thigh. She required 20 stitches and sustained nerve and tendon damage.

Under the workers compensation Awards in the claim, she received wage loss compensation at the maximum weekly rate of $706.00. While the comp rate is normally 2/3rds of the worker’s average weekly wage, there is a maximum rate, above which there is no comp. So, for clients who are high wage earners, (more…)

You would think that a lawyer listed as “One of the Best Lawyers in America” would have more important things to worry about than the envelopes his clients’; checks come in from the insurance companies.You could not be more wrong.  Virginia Trial Lawyer Doug Landau reminds clients under the protection of a Workers Comp Award that their checks should be on time.  If they are under an OPEN AWARD, and the Insurance Company’s check is too late, the Workers Compensation Commission can ODER a 20% penalty, payable directly to the injured worker (or her family in the case of fatal accident claims). (more…)

An ABRAMS LANDAU client who had several on the job injuries affecting his lumbar spine (lower back), was later involved in a car crash that injured his cervical spine (neck). Herndon “Super Lawyer” Doug Landau successfully settled his workers comp claims for this client who is also receiving monthly Social Security Disability Income for his diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other medical conditions. Landau, an experienced Virginia trial lawyer was recently able to settle this client’s most recent case for the policy limits of $100,000. In addition to this settlement, (more…)