Landau Injury Law

A structured settlement can help clients avoid economic uncertainty. By agreeing to receive periodic payments, Herndon trial lawyer Doug Landau’s clients have chosen to plan for their and their family’s futures. Settlements for personal injury and workers comp claims are usually free of state, local and federal income tax. Also, the structured payments or annuities, are usually guaranteed. That is, if the annuity company or insurance company that has promised to make the monthly, yearly or other payments fails to do so, another company, usually an insurance company, steps into their shoes to do so. This may be an important consideration when the defendant or employer is not solid financially. There are a number of reasons why an injured worker or plaintiff in an accident case may opt for a structured settlement.

As an example of what annuities can look like, (more…)

Recent tracking of our clients demonstrates what we have known for generations: our clients come to us on the recommendations of friends, family, neighbors, their doctors, lawyers and other professionals. That is one of the reasons we donot advertise. Not in the yellow pages. Not on TV. Not in thenewspaper. Not on the Internet. We believe that much of the lawyer advertising is unseemly and demeaning. Lawyers often advertise when they do not have good reputations; when they do not get referrals or recommendations; or they seek a volume practice that boasts large numbers of clients but is short on personal service and quality legal representation. Many lawyers that advertise on television with a courthouse in the background of their slick commercials you will almost never see try a case in court. They may also not qualify to be on the State, County or local bar Association’s official “Lawyer Referral Services,” because they do not have the required insurance (which is for YOUR protection) and/or they have a pending Ethics or other related complaint pending against them.

So, how do you know if an advertising lawyer is any good ?

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ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. recently won a Social Security Disability Income case for a client whose 500 weeks of workers compensation benefits had been paid and whose wage loss file had been closed by the insurance company and the government.

Scheduled to appear before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) in Baltimore, Maryland, our young client had been totally disabled from any sort of gainful employment for several years. Our client’s treating doctors took him out of work as a result of the pain he experiences from a work-related groin injury. In addition, he had cognitive disabilities that prevented him from performing other, less physically demanding (but more complex intellectual) activities. (more…)

Virginia’s injured workers are being short-changed every day. The reason is that their compensation rates are being miscalculated or determined with incomplete information.

Workers compensation wage loss benefit (and permanent injury) rates are supposed to be based upon what the employee got pre-injury. Instead, Virginia workers are being short-changed on the front end (the calculation of their comp rates) and penalized on the back end (post accident credits). (more…)

Many of my clients are worried about having surgery on their neck or back.  Much of the anxiety is caused by not knowing what exactly will happen.  Doctors are not always able to show patients what they intend to do, and they are often busy, with limited time for questions by family members.  Unlike Mr. Landau, who encourages people to watch his cases in court (especially before their own case is to be tried), doctors do not typically allow patients to view another patient’s surgery.  There is an excellent web site that I learned about at a Spine Surgery presentation this Fall.  “Spine-Health.com” (http://www.spine-health.com/dir/dir01.html) is an excellent place to find answers.  Not only are there MOVIES OF THE DIFFERENT SURGICAL PROCEDURES (without blood or too much technical language), but there are updates and information on such topics as, “Top 12 Tips for Buying a New Mattress,” “Unusual Office Chair Solutions,” “31 Back Pain Tips your Doctor Didn’t Mention,” and 11 Unconventional Sleep Tips: How to Get to Sleep and Stay Asleep.”  Check it out and see for yourself.

At a recent medico-legal program, Doug Landau participated in the discussion of back and neck pain after an accident. When there is a herniated disc that presses on the spinal cord or nerve root, one can actually see the anatomical cause of the pain on an MRI. When the disc material or fragment that has escaped from the disc (the “jelly from the doughnut”) is not pressing on the spinal cord or nerve root, there is often pain. Evidence tends to suggest that “Substance P” escapes from the disc into the root canal. There is no actual, mechanical, anatomical impingement. However, the Prostaglandin may irritate the nerve root and cause localized pain.

When there is a chemical cause of back or neck pain, then surgery may not be the best solution. Some clients have found relief through epidural injections. Mr. Landau has accompanied clients to their appointments and observed these procedures, which are performed under local anaesthesia, with the patient awake. The doctor looks at an x-ray machine that shows the medicine being injected into the back or neck, near the site of the pain so that relief can be had. Because pills are not swallowed, the stomach (and complications from upset) are bypassed and the medicine is injected directly to the spot where the doctor believes the greatest relief of symptoms will be achieved. Recent medical studies have shown that cervical epidural injections can lead to pain relief significant enough to prevent patients from having to undergo surgery. Other researchers have also concluded that lumbar injections reduce the need for lumbar surgical decompression. (more…)

After winning a client’s case before the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission, Virginia trial lawyer Doug Landau was able to successfully settle the case on the eve of trial at the Circuit Court of Worcester County. This was the third time Landau had represented this client ! They originally met when this construction worker watched a full day of Hearings by attorneys from all over the D.C. metropolitan area at the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission and then chose the Herndon lawyer to be his counsel. The case involved a back injury and the surgical implantation of metal rods in the patient’s back. Thomas Schuler of the Virginia Spine Institute in Reston (www.SpineMD.com) performed the surgery, which enabled the patient to return to work. . That Virginia comp claim settled for a lump sum of over $100,000.

The second case involved a fall from a truck. That workplace injury broke those rods, which then had to be replaced by Virginia Spinal Surgeon Thomas Schuler. The third case came 15 year after Mr. Landau and this Maryland client first met ! Because Doug Landau knew this gentleman’s medical history so well, (more…)

In another unusual case, Doug Landau was able to settle a client’s taxicab crash facial injury case where the Defendant driver had no insurance and fled the United States after the car crash. In this case the Defendant’s van crashed into the cab in which the plaintiff was an innocent passenger, in front of the train station. This accident occurred at the entrance to Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. helped this New York City client settle her case for $100,000 with the taxi cab company’s insurance company after filing suit in the D.C. Superior Court. (more…)

Mr. Landau traveled to Ocean City, Maryland several times for depositions, court hearings and trial for an appeal of a Maryland Workers Compensation claim. His local counsel, Brian Lee, had handled the original hearing before the comp judge, but Landau was prepared to take the case to the jury. Critical to this preparation was his pre-trial submissions to the Worcester County Circuit Court. These included:

1. Requested Jury Instructions

a. MPJI 30:3(a) – Burden of Proof

This case has been heard and decided by the Worker’s Compensation Commission. The employer Construction Company and insurer, Insurance Company, are appealing the decision of the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission.

The Commission determined:

• Plaintiff sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of employment;
• The disability of Plaintiff’s back is the result of the workplace accident;
• Plaintiff’s average weekly wage was $1,100.00.

This decision is presumed to be correct. The employer and insurer have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision is wrong. In meeting this burden the employer and insurer may rely on the same, less or more evidence than was presented to the Commission. (more…)

The Virginia Workers Compensation Commission ruled that an Internet hire falls under Florida’s jurisdiction, even though the injured employee got his training, equipment, uniform, transportation and initial hours in Virginia.

A Virginia Company, located in Manassas, Virginia, put an advertisement on the Internet. It provided service for plants up and down the East Coast. The claimant was injured at a plant in Jacksonville, Florida, after which he became disabled and underwent spinal surgery. (more…)