Landau Injury Law

Doug Landau once again participated in the Supreme Court’s “New Judges’ Training Program” in Richmond yesterday. Presenting a personal injury bus stop accident case at the downtown John Marshall Courts Building, the Loudoun Fairfax injury lawyer was able to put a Tidewater Judge in training through his paces. Part of the learning process for the new judges is the post-verdict analysis by the supervising judges and lawyers such as Doug Landau. The Herndon Reston injury and disability lawyer finds that preparing for these cases makes him a better lawyer, as he has learned something new every time he has presented one of these cases in the City of Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover County Court houses. Several clients and friends have already asked to attend next year’s trial ! If you would like to see the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team in action, please call 703-796-9555 to find out when and where our next cases will be. Landau is shown here with friends and former associates Randy Perry, a Manassas medical malpractice defense attorney, former Integon and Liberty Mutual Insurance counsel and Theresa Cummins, a Fair Lakes area general practice lawyer and former CNA Insurance counsel.

Leesburg and Herndon airport injury lawyer Doug Landau has been asked why there is no Loudoun or Fairfax County Police Accident Report by clients in motor vehicle accidents at Dulles International Airpor (”IAD”). Clients injured on BOTH sides of the Terminal have difficulty explaining why the local Loudoun and Fairfax County cops cannot cross over onto the Airport Authority’s turf. As Landau and the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team has successfully handled a number of airport crash, premises liability, slip and fall injury cases, they have learned that there are special rules that apply. The normal “Rules of the Road” that drivers on the highways are taught may not be applicable in an airport crash injury case.

The short answer from Loudoun Fairfax Injury Board member Landau is that there is something called the “Air Operations Area.” The Air Operations Area (”AOA”) consists of the restricted ground areas of the airport, inclusive of taxiways, runways and parking areas. The local police and other authorities are not allowed (more…)

One of the ways Leesburg and Fairfax job injury lawyer Doug Landau keeps up on the very latest developments in the law and tests out his latest strategies is through the listServs.  A listServ is how lawyers from all over Virginia, and all over the country, stay in touch, compare notes and exchange information and documents.  Loudoun and Fairfax Injury lawyer Landau belongs, and contributes to, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Workers Compensation, Social Security and other listServs.  On a national level, workplace accident and traumatic injury lawyer Landau interacts with the Association for Justice Product Liability, Disability and Section Leadership Council listServs.  The Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group (”WILG“) provides another forum for the ABRAMS LANDAU team.

When the Herndon Reston injury lawyer finds a particularly useful or noteworthy posting, he rewards the author.  Here, he is shown with Richmond on the job accident lawyer Craig Davis, or Emroch & Kilduff.  Davis had responded to one of Landau’s inquiries and had provided a sample Order recently approved by the Workers Compensation Commission in a case similar to the one ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. was handling.  In thanks, Landau brought his friend Davis some treats from Great Harvest Bread.  Landau also made Craig promise to share the baked goods and keep up the useful postings.  By using these listServs, Doug Landau has thousands of “online partners.”

The Las Vegas Sun won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories exposing the causes of construction site injuries. Construction workers had been dying at a rate of one every six weeks in the $32 billion building boom on the Las Vegas Strip. But deaths stopped last year after the Las Vegas Sun exposed serious safety flaws on the sites and detailed how lax oversight by safety regulators failed to prevent accidents. Twelve workers had died in 18 months. But after the improvements, the deaths stopped. No workers have died since June 2008. The Sun’s series site includes stories, a video, an interactive and documents from OSHA concerning the deaths, plus follow-up stories. (more…)

We are frequently asked, “What does Doug Landau do on his “road trips” away from the office in Herndon, Virginia ?”

Here is the Triathlon Trial Lawyer’s agenda Friday AFTER leaving ABRAMS LANDAU for a Federal Disability trial and the United States Duathlon National Championships (he is shown here after picking up his race numbers, shwag (= goody bag) & running part of the course):

• 10:00 Pack case files for Richmond, leave office with MapQuests in hand
• 12:00 Arrive at Federal Social Security Administration office in downtown Richmond, having eaten lunch in the car and returned phone calls.
• 12:15 Meet with client, family, witness and review official CD of the exhibits.
• 1:00 Try Social Security Disability case before Administrative Law Judge.
• 3:15 Debrief client and family. Re-pack exhibits, CDs and get to car.
• 3:30 Arrive at Virginia Workers Compensation Commission to review files and file new cases and pleadings.
• 4:30 Meet with other Richmond Social Security, Disability, Workers Compensation and personal injury lawyers, bringing goodies from the Great Harvest Bakery.
• 5:30 Pick up USAT Duathlon National Championship numbers at preregistration, scout out the transition area and run some of the race course.
• 6:15 Check into hotel.
• 7:00 Take cousins out for barbeque at “Q” Restaurant in Midlothian.
• 10:30 Return to Hotel, plan rest of the weekend and go to bed !

Previously I have written about burn injuries and the pain and disability they cause. I have also discussed the benefits of mediation in catastrophic injury and disability cases. In a case mediated by former Alexandria Circuit Court Chief Judge Kent and prepared by my friend and experienced Richmond trial attorney Chris Guedri, the innocent plaintiff suffered second and third degree burns to multiple bodyparts.

According to the Virginia Lawyers Weekly case report, the defendant truck driver was operating a Freightliner tractor on southbound Interstate 95 (more…)

Herndon Virginia injury and Social Security Disability lawyer Doug Landau was once again in Richmond on behalf of a disabled client. Landau originally met with this family after winning the Masters prize at the Colonial Beach Triathlon near their home by the water, saving them a trip to Herndon ! When this client’s wife became disabled at age 54, they family naturally called on Doug Landau and the ABRAMS LANDAU team to help her win her case after the Federal Governmetn had rejected her application at two levels.
Having won her husband’s Federal disability claim several years ago, Landau was ready to try this lifelong military base school custodian’s SSDI claim before an Administrative Law Judge (”ALJ”). In order to give his client’s case the best chance of success, the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team had retained vocational experts, consulted with other SSDI lawyers in Richmond, outside the state capitol and in the national disability representatives office. Here Landau is shown meeting experienced Richmond Social Security lawyer Jerry Lutkenhaus after the ALJ hearing was concluded

Leesburg and Fairfax injury, disease and disability lawyer Doug Landau had quite a week. After success with cases in Front Royal, Woodstock, Fairfax and Warren Counties, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer was the overall winner at the Georgetown Prep campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The ABRAMS LANDAU trial lawyer was the fastest of the 367 finishers at the Bethesda Triathlon. Landau had previously won the run-bike-run Biathlon in 2003 at this early season Autism fundraiser. To see the complete results and split times. Landau is shown here with U.S.A. Maccabiah Triathlon teammate, friend, Masters soccer star and lawyer Michael Lichtenstein after the race.

According to the Autism Speaks site, Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. It is part of a group (more…)

According to the “Brain Attack” website, studies with animals have shown that brain injury occurs within minutes of a brain attack and can become irreversible within as little as an hour. In humans, brain damage begins from the moment the stroke starts and often continues for days afterward. Scientists now know that there is a very short window of opportunity for treatment of the most common form of brain attack or stroke. Because of these and other advances in the field of cerebrovascular disease stroke patients now have a chance for survival and recovery.  A stroke can be devastating to individuals and their families, robbing them of their independence. It is the most common cause of adult disability. Each year more than 500,000 Americans have a stroke, with about 145,000 dying from stroke-related causes.

There are two broad categories of stroke: those caused by a blockage of blood flow and those caused by bleeding. While not usually fatal, a blockage of a blood vessel in the brain or neck, called an ischemic stroke, is the most frequent cause of stroke and is responsible for about 80 percent of strokes. These blockages stem from three conditions: the formation of a clot within a blood vessel of the brain or neck, called thrombosis; the movement of a clot from another part of the body such as the heart to the neck or brain, called embolism; or a severe narrowing of an artery in or leading to the brain, called stenosis. Bleeding into the brain or the spaces surrounding the brain causes the second type of stroke, called hemorrhagic stroke.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in America and the No. 1 cause of adult disability, according to the National Stroke Organization (”NSO”). Up to 80% of strokes are preventable; you can prevent a stroke! Here is the page for the  NSO’s “Stroke 101 Fact Sheet.”

Herndon and Leesburg brain injury lawyer Doug Landau heard the report on the radio that there is a stroke every 3 minutes in a piece about “brain attack.” Heart attacks and cancer dominate the news, but strokes are much more common than Landau thought. A stroke or “brain attack” occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery (a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body) or a blood vessel (a tube through which the blood moves through the body) breaks, interrupting blood flow (and vital oxygen) to an area of the brain. When either of these things happen, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs. When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by that area of the brain are lost. These abilities include speech, movement and memory. How a stroke patient is affected depends on where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged.

For example, someone who has a small stroke may experience only minor problems such as weakness of an arm or leg. People who have larger strokes may be paralyzed on one side or lose their ability to speak. Some people recover completely from strokes, but more than 2/3 of survivors will have some type of disability. Tomorrow’s post will talk about the types and causes of strokes.