Landau Injury Law

Just because you were hurt at work, WHILE WORKING, and through not fault of your own, does NOT mean you win and get awarded the money you deserve.

In a recent Virginia Court of Appeals decision, the court ruled that the innocent worker’s medical bills, lost wages and permanent injury were not covered by his employer’s workers comp insurance.

A male waiter entered the kitchen of the restaurant where he worked and began to input meal orders into a computer. Three co-workers threw ice at the waiter. He turned around when a piece of ice hit him in the back of his head. He was continually hit in the head and chest as he faced forward. He threw his left arm up to block the ice and his left shoulder dislocated. He suffered an injury and underwent surgery, as a result of the incident.

But even more shocking than the facts of the case is the final court decision, which favored with the employer, who argued, “there was no casual connection between the injury and the conditions under which the employer required the work to be done”.  The case [Link] underscores the importance of getting competent, experienced legal assistance, since the Workers Comp law does NOT cover every single workplace injury or accident.  At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we have been helping injured workers and their families for generations.  Let us help you and your loved ones. Contact us by phone at (703) 796-9555

As a parent, is allowing your son or daughter to host a party with under aged drinking worth $2,500 per person, losing your driver’s license, and spending a year in jail?

According to Herndon and Reston Virginia area injury lawyer Doug Landau, it is absolutely not worth it.  At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we have seen the devastation caused by drunk, impaired and drivers on drugs. Drinking alcohol, if you are under 21 is illegal in the United States, and can result in a $500 fine, community service, and loss of ones driver’s license. But it is also a Class 1 misdemeanor for adults to provide alcohol to any person under the age of 21, other than their own child in the privacy of their own home, i.e. a parent may give his or her children alcohol in their home for a religious occasion.

The penalties for an adult providing alcohol to their children’s under aged friends are more costly than the penalties for the drinkers. A $2,500 fine per young person provided with alcohol is just one penalty. This means if you allow your daughter to have 10 under aged friends over to your house to drink you will pay $25,000. That is more than a little pocket change, and should not be taken lightly.

In addition the kids you host could drive home drunk. They may promise they will spend the night and then once they have consumed some alcohol, convince themselves they are able to drive. Driving while intoxicated is also a crime, and can lead to serious injury and death especially in teenagers who are inexperienced drivers. And if the young drunk driver hits and injures someone, the parents who hosted the party and provided the alcohol to a minor could be liable.

Things parents can do to prevent the worst:

- 1. If your child is going to a party, find out where it is and call other parents to make sure it will be alcohol free

- 2. Lock up your alcohol so that your child won’t have access to it.

- 3. Check bag packs and purses at the door to make sure no alcoholic beverages are entering your home in the hands of teenagers.

- 4. Refuse to buy alcohol for your child, or host a party where persons under 21 consume alcohol.

Under aged drinking is a serious offense, but adults who play the laid-back, party hosting, parents really have to pay the price.

Picture and more information can be found at www.unifiedpreventioncoalition.org

Herndon Attorney Defends ‘MS-8’  - Landau wins case for bikers ticketed during multiple sclerosis fundraiser.

Attorney Doug Landau of Herndon-based Abrams Landau succeeded in defending two bicyclists whose cases he had taken for free at a July 7 court hearing. The defendants were two of eight cyclists ticketed for failing to stop at stop signs during a bike ride to raise money for multiple sclerosis on Sunday, June 7 in Lovettsville. 

“It struck me as unjust,” Landau said, noting that the people who were ticketed were part of the charity fund-raiser or were on a concurrent ride with the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club, a regional bike riders’ group. An avid bike rider, Landau has ridden not only as part of multiple sclerosis fund-raisers but also with the Pedalers. “They’re generally older people who are just out for a sunny Sunday afternoon ride,” he said. 

Landau said it was not inappropriate for the Loudoun Sheriff’s Office to respond to complaints earlier in the day about cyclists running stoplights and riding three abreast but that the incidents of actual ticketing he knew of from that day seemed excessive. One of his pro-bono “clients,” he said, made what is known as a “track stand” stop, coming to a stop but not touching his feet to the ground. The other slowed and checked for traffic before continuing, in what is called an “Idaho stop” for its legality in that state. 

FAILURE TO STOP at a stop sign, whether on a bike or in a car, carries a penalty of four points on one’s driver’s license and substantial fines, along with court fees, Landau said, adding, “On the ticket, it doesn’t say that these are for bicycle infractions. 

“If I’m blowing through stoplights at 30 miles per hour with those little ear buds in for an iPod, sure. Take me down,” Landau said. But he said he felt there were substantial differences between bicycles and cars not recognized by state law. 

He didn’t get a call from one of the cyclists until July 3, four days before the court date, but he extended the offer for free litigation to all eight of them. Normally, Landau works on cases of personal injury, workers compensation and federal Social Security disability income. “I don’t go to traffic court unless it’s for one of my kids’ tickets,” he said. 

After he showed prosecutors his clients’ perfect driving records, aerial photos that illustrated the rural area and the distance that the officer would have been from the bikers, and the Idaho stop law, the two sides agreed on a deal that convicted the two cyclists of lacking reflectors, a much lesser infraction. 

FOUR of the others had already pre-paid their fines, while one got his case continued and the other represented himself and lost. 

Since the charges were incurred during a multiple sclerosis fund-raiser, Landau has labeled the ticketed bikers the “MS-8.” “I’m all for the best and highest use of resources, and I want cops going after MS-13, not the MS-8,” he said

New legislation will create safer roads for teenagers, one state at a time.

The STANDUP Act is a comprehensive approach to graduated drivers licensing (GDL) that has already reduced injury and death in the states where these laws have been enacted. The STANDUP Act helps new young drivers gain experience under supervised and less risky conditions and addresses several major facets of the teen-driving problem.

• STANDUP is The Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act of 2009.
• It is legislation that would establish minimum federal requirements for state GDL laws.
• (GDL Laws or Graduated Driver Licensing laws allow young drivers to experience safe driving in stages before obtaining full driving privileges.)
• It would encourage all states to adopt GDL laws that meet those minimum requirements within 3 years.
• For 3 years following enactment states with the minimum GDL requirements would receive grants in an effort to help them with education and enforcement.
• For states that don’t comply with the STANDUP Act minimum requirements within three years, the Secretary of Transportation would withhold a percentage of certain federal highway construction programs.

picture – http://car-audio-video.info/

A combination of disabling conditions can be sufficient to prove a Social Security Disability claim.  The disabled worker does not need to have one medical diagnosis only; we have won Federal disability cases where the claimant has several permanent injuries or chronic problems that prevent them from working.  Recently, a Lovettsville client complained of nerve damage in her legs, feet and hands as a result of her chemotherapy treatments.  She is a survivor of breast cancer who was experiencing knee pain, shooting pains in her legs, and was unable to perform any tasks requiring kneeling or standing.

Her treating doctor explained that due to her impairments, the claimant was limited to lifting only 10-pounds occasionally in her 8-hour day.  She had become limited in feeling and grasping.  The worker’s doctor wrote that this middle-aged woman would not likely recover from her symptoms.  As a result of her chemotherapy she sustained chronic peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is “a problem with the functioning of the nerves outside the spinal cord.”

http://millercenter.uchicago.edu/learnaboutpn/aboutpn/whatispn/

The Government hired a medical consultant to examine and question the disabled worker and then give evidence against her in Court.  However, the Government’s doctor’s physical assessments were given little to no weight in the decision because they did not properly recognize the treating Doctor’s consultative examination, treatments or the full effects of ALL of the claimant’s injuries.

Doug Landau represented the claimant, explaining her disease, neurological problems and resulting problems. In the winning decision, the Judge wrote, “ After considering the evidence of record, the [Social Security Administration] finds that the claimant’s medically determinable impairments could reasonably be expected to produce the alleged symptoms, and that the claimant’s statements concerning the intensity, persistence, and limiting effects of these symptoms are generally credible”.  While Landau has helped disabled workers who cannot work because of a crash, major accident or debilitating disease (like Multiple Sclerosis, Hepatitis, AIDS, etc.), the ABRAMS LANDAU team has also been able to assist people with SEVERAL disabling conditions to win their Social Security Disability cases.

Doug Landau explains, “having one law firm handle all of your related cases saves time, effort and money. For example, the medical records prescriptions and bills are relevant to all your injury and disability cases. Once I learn a client’s medical history, I can apply that knowledge to their car crash, dog attack, product liability or slip and fall case, as well as their related on the job injury claim, and also their Federal Social Security Disability claim. We only have to pay for these records ONCE, and we can use one of these cases to help the other.” Coordination of state and Federal benefits is becoming increasingly more complex, and law firms that claim to handle injury cases are settling the motorcycle crash, dog bite or premises liability claim and then failing to properly protect the client on the workers compensation or Social Security claims.  Plus, ABRAMS LANDAU gets calls all the time from distraught injury victims who have a good lawyer, but that lawyer does not handle their related cases, and the legal time limit is about to run against them.

Herndon, Reston and Leesburg injury and disability lawyer Landau’s advice: “Don’t be a dummy and split up your negligence, workers comp and Social Security cases.” Keep them “under one roof” with an experienced law firm that regularly handles permanent injury, lifetime disability and fatal accident claims before the trial courts, compensation boards and Federal Social Security Administrative Law Judges.

The “dummy” ABRAMS LANDAU trial lawyer Landau is pictured with can be found in Lightfoot’s, the Loudoun County restaurant across the street from the Leesburg Court House where many of this InjuryBoard member’s airport injury, car wreck and bicyclists’ crash cases are filed

Cars can’t drive themselves yet, but Volvos are getting closer to doing so. Some cars can now avoid low-speed collisions, making cities all over the world a bit less accident-prone.

Volvo has developed what may be considered to be the ideal safety package for urban drivers. The City Safety package is a low-speed braking system designed to avoid fender-benders and parallel parking “bumps”, which have become characteristic of city driving.

The system works at low speeds, 20 miles an hour and below to be exact, and is made up of a light detection and ranging system. A laser, placed centrally at the top of the windshield, points out from the system, and senses reflections from license plates, bumpers, taillights or anything else that may catch the systems attention within a 20-foot distance. It detects the speed at which the car is moving towards the object and takes into account that the driver has not begun to break, and then the system breaks automatically. Furthermore, the City Safety system has been able to detect pedestrians in some low-speed tests.

This system seems fool proof, but keep in mind it is a back-up system. Staying alert and attentive while driving, especially in an urban area is key to your safety and the safety of others.

Have you ever been pulled over by a police officer or sheriff ? You immediately think, “What did I do ?” You look around your car or truck for your drivers license and registration, and wait for the law enforcement officer to approach.

When they tell you that you have a light out, expired sticker or inspection, and are going to get a warning, if you are like me, you heave a sigh of relief, thank them and see to it that the broken light is fixed, car inspected and taxes paid. I feel like I have won the lottery and tell everyone how wonderful our police, troopers and sheriffs are.  I am also “in the system” so that if I do not take care of the problem, I will get in big trouble if I am pulled over again without having taken remedial action. Giving warnings and recording the driver’s information makes for a solid case if the driver is picked up a second time for the same infraction. And, if the offending motorist is an “Habitual Offender,” the fines and penalties can be quite severe. So, the next time you are given a warning for some defect on your car, truck or motorcycle, thank the officer, sheriff, deputy or trooper and fix the problem.

The MS-8 (Multiple Sclerosis charity ride) case has stirred up talk up and down the East Coast. The NBC news came out to visit Doug Landau at ABRAMS LANDAU and the W&OD Trail in Herndon, Virginia.

Here is the newspaper story, newscast and what happened “behind the scene.”

Abrams Landau, Ltd. was contacted only last week by one of the Defendant bicyclists cited by the Loudoun County Sheriffs for failure to stop. On Friday, July 3^rd I spoke to the first of these bikers. This experienced cyclist advised that the cases were to be heard in Court on Tuesday, July 7th. Agreeing to represent as many bicycle riders who would have me, pro bono (at no charge), I left messages with the other two-wheeled Defendants that I was given contact information for by the Defendant Potomac Peddler ride co-leader. I reviewed the ticket, photographs and other evidence that had been left for me. By this time I had spoken with several other riders who had been charged June 7th, and advised that while my practice is primarily helping injured cyclists, runners and other victims, I would appear on their behalf and help them in the Leesburg Court the next morning.

On Tuesday morning, I met with the bikers, Commonwealths Attorneys, officers and other Loudoun County criminal and traffic defense lawyers. By the time our cases were called, the count was “2 Strikes and 2 Outs.” The court already had prepayment by a cyclist who plead guilty. Strike one. One of the bikers I had called chose to “go it alone.” He valiantly argued his case, and was found guilty, given a fine and court costs of several hundred dollars and FOUR POINTS on his DMV record. He may also face repercussions, depending upon his point balance, when it comes to getting car insurance and umbrella coverage. Strike two. The officer was not at all happy to see me there as counsel for the Defendants. After several hours, a substitute judge came on the bench and I indicated to the prosecutor that we were ready to try the remaining cases. No cyclist had avoided conviction and there had been no stop sign or signal acquittals for motorists either that morning.

I had discussions with three different Assistant Commonwealth Attorneys, debated the merits of our cases, demonstrated our photographic and documentary evidence, my clients “+5″ DMV records and even the use of a “track stand” and Idaho (rolling) stop.

The prosecutor offered to dismiss the failure to stop violation if we would agree to a non-moving equipment charge. There would be no points, major fine or court costs and no appeal. I discussed this with my clients, staff and family members present, and it was decided to accept. This action would not prejudice the other cyclists I spoke with over the holiday weekend who requested continuances or sought to fight the charges another day. Little did I think that our actions in court would stir up so many additional questions, nonetheless a spot on the news.

Interestingly, after I got back from court after representing the “MS-8″ bicyclists at the Loudoun County Courthouse, I was contacted by another cyclist ticketed for “running through a stop.” She is 11. Her mother called from New York. This young girl is in the hospital. Her pelvis is fractured. According to an eyewitness, the driver: saw the child biking; knew this girl was in the area on her bicycle; thought the young bicycle rider was through the intersection when his truck hit the back end of her rear tire. The police arrived, saw the truck crash scene sent for an ambulance for the child who was thrown some distance from the crossing area and then ticketed the child.I have been fortunate enough to win this kind of case for a pedestrian here in Herndon, who was struck by a Police Department Dispatcher on her way to her Police Academy Graduation, and whose co-workers from the police force charged my client with not stopping ! The largest personal injury law firm in Virginia turned the case down and suggested the injured walker call the Landau Law Shop. Loudoun, Fairfax and Leesburg cyclist, walker and runner injury lawyer Doug Landau is shown to the left with his measuring wheel after marking off a pedestrian accident scene.  Our client, a French national, did not drive, but walked or took the Metro everywhere. This elderly gentleman’s shoulder was shattered. We were able to present eyewitness testimony and photographic evidence. Our exhibits demonstrated the fact that the pedestrian was visible at all times; that he was walking slowly; and, that he was walking from curb apron to curb apron, in a straight line, across a street with no crossing lines. The Fairfax County Circuit Court judge found in our favor. However, more important than the judgment in our client’s favor for restitution for his medical bills, time loss, pain, scarring and permanently damaged arm, was the fact that despite the conviction in the District Court for the ticket, he was vindicated in the civil case. Many of our cases involve righting “wrongs” as well as winning reimbursement for what has been taken from our innocent clients.