Landau Injury Law

Herndon and Sterling Virginia lawyer Douglas Landau notes that the Workers Compensation Commission requires consistent Marketing for light work by injured workers even in a "down economy."

According to Herndon and Sterling Virginia workers compensation lawyer Doug Landau, marketing residual physical abilities is critical to the receipt of benefits after a “light duty work” release.  However, many ABRAMS LANDAU clients suggest that this is an exercise in futility in light of recent economic trends.

The Herndon Connection newspaper article by Julia O’Donahue’s 12/15/2009 at p.11, noted Fairfax County’s unemployment rate reached 4.7 percent in September, approximately 1.8 percent higher than it was during the same month a year earlier.  During August, the number of jobs in Northern Virginia declined by 13,000, approximately 1 percent, overall. It was the region’s 10th straight month of job losses, though Northern Virginia still has the lowest jobless rate in the Commonwealth, at 4.9 percent overall. In September, Virginia, with the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the county, was 6.6 percent.  While Fairfax’s economy remains strong when compared to other parts of the country, the county’s jobless rate never exceeded four percent during its previous two economic downturns, according to budget documents. Fairfax County unemployment insurance claims also increased 116 percent from July 2008 to July 2009.

Lawyer Landau maintains that despite these dismal economic numbers, injured workers must still show regular, recorded efforts of marketing.  Failure to demonstrate consistent efforts to look for selective duty employment can result in a suspension or termination of weekly wage loss benefits.  If you or someone you know has been injured at work and has questions about marketing, light duty work obligations or their weekly wage loss benefits, e-mail us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., or call 703-796-9555 today.

The State of Connecticut Attorney General’s Office Press Release announced a landmark $25.1 million agreement with drug maker Eli Lilly and Company for allegedly marketing its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for unapproved uses, and concealing the drug’s serious side effects, for more than a decade.  The Connecticut AG’s office sued Eli Lilly last year for corrupting physicians, pharmacies and administrators at nursing homes and youth detention centers as part of a massive illegal marketing campaign to promote Zyprexa for unapproved off-label uses, including for the treatment of children.  The lawsuit was filed pursuant to the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).  The settlement also requires stronger standards for marketing and transparency to prevent Eli Lilly from rewarding physicians and others for their prescribing practices.

“This illicit multi-billion dollar drug marketing scheme corrupted health care at the expense of taxpayers, senior citizens, children and others who suffered serious side effects from Zyprexa,” AG Blumenthal said. “Eli Lilly was aided and abetted by so-called independent physicians paid handsomely to promote Zyprexa for unapproved off-label uses — ghost writing articles, downplaying dangers, and pitching the product.  Propelled by profits, Eli Lilly promoted Zyprexa recklessly – regardless of danger or FDA rules. Eli Lilly illegally marketed Zyprexa for unapproved uses in children to treat depression and Attention Deficit Disorder, and other uses never approved by the FDA. (more…)

Having handled cases where defective fans cause sparks and fires, burn injury lawyer Doug Landau was intrigued by the Lasko Products case. According to the Philadelphia Daily News story, four years after a fire ignited by a faulty floor fan killed a 7-year-old Germantown boy, his family found some solace this week when a jury walloped the fan manufacturer, Lasko Products Inc. of West Chester, with a $13.5 million verdict. Lasko, the largest fan manufacturer in the United States, discovered a defect in the foreign-made motors in its portable fans in 1999 and developed corrective technology by 2004, said the boy’s attorney, Matthew D’Annunzio.

But the company did not alert consumers who already owned the defective fans or report the problem to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)until after 7-year-old Joshua Foster died in his burning apartment on June 14, 2005, according to the family’s counsel. Joshua usually camped out with his 9-year-old sister in their living room on hot nights to enjoy his home’s sole air-conditioner, D’Annunzio said. But he had crawled into his mother’s bed that night. Both awoke just before dawn to crackling noises and flames coming from the portable fan in the bedroom doorway. His mother scrambled out of bed to the kitchen faucet for water to douse the flames, mistakenly thinking her son had followed. Within seconds, a raging fire blocked the doorway, trapping Joshua and thwarting rescue attempts by his mother, sister and a neighbor. The boy died of thermal burns and smoke inhalation. City fire investigators determined that the blaze had started in the fan’s China-made motor.

After a 13-day trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, jurors on Wednesday found Lasko liable for Joshua’s death. They awarded his mother $4 million and sister $2 million for pain, suffering and emotional distress, $10,000 for funeral expenses and $7.5 million to the boy’s estate. Plaintiff’s counsel received about 42 reports of fans’ overheating, smoking, melting or catching fire between November 2002 and September 2005, but didn’t report them to the CPSC until September 2005, according to the commission. The commission announced in January that Lasko had agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty for failing to report those incidents. The commission and Lasko in February 2006 recalled 5.6 million fans that were manufactured between 1999 and 2001 and sold in stores as late as 2004 due to “a potential electrical failure in the fan motor [that] can pose a fire hazard.” The boy’s mother “feels vindicated, and just really wants the word out for people who didn’t hear about the Lasko recall; they should investigate the recall and protect themselves.”  For Recall information

Bedsores, or decubitus ulcers, are a constant concern for those ABRAMS LANDAU clients with disabling injuries and paralysis.  Doug Landau’s clients and family members who are bedridden after an accident or surgery, are at risk for bedsores if not properly rotated, turned and positioned.  Lawyer Landau has won permanent total disability cases for injuries made much worse by decubitus ulcers.

A jury has ordered Westchester Medical Center to pay $2.2 million to a quadriplegic man who got horrific bedsores while staying at the hospital after a car crash in 2005.  According to news reports, Eric Trainor, a 30-year-old former construction worker from Putnam County, was awarded the amount last month for pain and suffering, following a civil trial in state Supreme Court in White Plains.  His lawyer said the hospital’s failure to turn Trainor every two hours during his six-week stay – and the failure of the Defendant doctor to ensure that care – caused the disabled plaintiff to develop “stage four” bedsores on his buttocks and lower back. “They were all the way down to the bone,” plaintiff’s counsel said. “They were huge.”  The plaintiff, who lives with his parents, suffered for years from the bedsores, which had to be surgically closed.  The sores delayed his physical rehabilitation so much that he lost the chance to build upper-body strength.  Trainor was riding to a construction job with another contractor when their car skidded on ice and crashed in Dutchess County in 2005. He was taken to Westchester Medical Center with a spinal cord injury; he could move his head, neck and shoulders, but little else. Because of the injury, he couldn’t feel the bedsores developing. The money would help provide for the Plaintiff’s three young children, replace his battery-powered wheelchair and allow him to buy a special van.  The jury granted the award following a seven-day trial.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed to protect American workers from being abused by their employers. Often times, employees are forced to work “off-the-clock.”  This occurs when managers and supervisors intimidate employees by claiming that there are plenty of unemployed individuals out there who want their job. (See our prior post as to the Fairfax County unemployment statistics.)  This makes employees reluctant to stand up in the face of abuse for fear of retaliation or losing their jobs.  When corporations require salaried employees to work longer hours or increase a person’s job duties or responsibilities, they may be violating the law.

Under the FLSA, a “Bona Fide Executive” or managerial employee typically receives a salary for all hours worked and is not entitled to overtime pay. To qualify for this type of pay arrangement, however, the employee’s “primary duty” must be “management” of the store or department to which they are assigned. Under the Department of Labor regulations, “the amount of time” an employee spends on a particular task can be a good indicator of whether “management” is their primary duty. Therefore, if a company continues to add more job duties and responsibilities that really isn’t “management” work, they could be violating the law by changing the very nature of the job. In some instances, adding the additional work will create a situation where the employee should actually be receiving overtime pay, even though they still receive a salary. There is nothing wrong with employees pitching in during tough economic times. But, a company cannot be allowed to violate the law and abuse its employees so its high level executives can continue to make their same salaries, receive big bonuses and not share in the increased work.  The ABRAMS LANDAU team has referred several callers with wage and salary claims to experienced labor and employment lawyers for their cases.   If you or someone you know has not been paid for overtime hours or other work obligations, e-mail us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., or call 703-796-9555 today.

The oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin are the top-selling pharmaceutical line for Bayer HealthCare, largely as a result of marketing that presents them as much more than mere pregnancy prevention.  Yaz, in particular, the top-selling birth control pill in the United States, owes much of its popularity to multimillion-dollar ad campaigns that have promoted the drug as a quality-of-life treatment to combat acne and severe premenstrual depression.  Yaz, a newer sister drug to Yasmin, contains less estrogen. The franchise had worldwide sales of about $1.8 billion last year, based on Bayer’s successful positioning of Yasmin and Yaz as the go-to drug brands for women under 35.

But recently, according to a New York Times article, the Yaz line’s image has been clouded by concerns from some researchers, health advocates and plaintiffs’ lawyers. They say that the drugs put women at higher risk for blood clots, strokes and (more…)

ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. building construction in the "Downtown Historic District" of Herndon, Virginia

Workplace injury lawyer Doug Landau has been “up close and personal” with building supplies and workers outside his second story window this week.  Construction crews have been erecting scaffolding around the ABRAMS LANDAU main building and delivery trucks have been dropping off lumber, hardiplank and other materials for the improvements to the Landau Law Shop in Herndon, Virginia.  Clients calling the workers compensation and personal injury practice may have heard pounding in the background and saws going outside.

ABRAMS LANDAU law firm's back porch construction - continuing our tradition of "Friendly, Not Fancy"

The ABRAMS LANDAU law firm hopes that when this construction is done, the building will stay warmer, resist chipping and moisture damage and keep its looks for a long time to come.  When you purchase a 120+ year old building, there are bound to be materials that need upgrading or replacement.  Architects advised that the use of hardiplank fits in the firm’s “Green” agenda as well as protecting the structure for many years to come.  The construction work will also include fixing the entrance, handicap ramp and porch railings.  While it has been bitterly cold, and we have had snow, the work men have gamely been pressing on, and the work may be finished this month.  It was many months in the planning and getting the Town of Herndon’s approval.  When it is done, we hope that clients will welcome the newer materials that keep the flavor of our old home.  We feel that the construction will continue our goal of a building (and a law firm) that is, “friendly, not fancy.”

Experienced workplace injury lawyers Doug Landau and Ken Annis compare notes as to what is proper for reimbursement at last week's DC Trial Lawyers meeting

Recently, an experienced personal injury lawyer sent me the following, “We are settling a third-party tort claim in which there is a workers’ comp lien.  I know that my client is responsible for paying back Temporary Total Disability (”TTD”) benefits, medical treatment, prescriptions and transportation costs.  But is my client responsible for paying back the employer and insurance carrier’s legal costs, medical examination charges, nurse case manager, vocational rehabilitation and medical management costs in car crash, dog attack or slip and fall cases ? ”
The short answer, according to experienced Herndon Workers Comp “Super Lawyer” Doug Landau is “NO.”

The employer and their workers compensation insurance carrier is reimbursed for medical care and weekly benefits only, not administrative expense such as:

1. legal costs (lawyers, paralegals, subpoenas, depositions, etc.),
2. document duplication (i.e., the VWCC file, medical records, personnel file, etc.),
3. medical examination charges (often called an “IME” or “Insurance Medical Exam”),
4. private investigators/surveillance,
5. medical utilization review,
6. nurse case manager,
7. vocational rehabilitation, and
8. medical management costs.

There is Virginia Workers Compensation Commission (”VWCC”) authority on point: Lockwood v. Automatic Control of Tidewater, 63 O.I.C. 219 (1984) and Washington v. Miller & Rhoads, 68 O.I.C. 250 (1989).  While insurance companies, employers and their lawyers often try to claim these items for repayment from a workers negligence case, when the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team confronts them with the applicable Virginia case law, they back down and withdraw their claims for these expenses, saving our clients thousands of dollars.  WHile the insurance companies ARE allowed to get paid back on their “IOU,” they can only claim certain expenses.  If you, or someone you know, has had a serious and disabling on the job accident where someone else may have been at fault, please e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU (703-796-9555).

Herndon car crash lawyer Doug Landau often gets calls from innocent victims who mistakenly think their rights are protected because the police gave the Defendant a ticket for speeding, running a light, etc.

WRONG ! Herndon car and bike crash lawyer Doug Landau wagers that we all know someone who has received a speeding or other traffic ticket, only to have it dismissed, reduced, or “beaten.”  Just because the person who caused a crash got a ticket DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY mean they are “guilty” in the civil personal injury case.

The ABRAMS LANDAU Trial Team has seen many cases where the Defendant was issued a ticket and their insurance company still denied the claim of the injured plaintiffs.  “It does not matter how serious the injuries are: broken bones, brain injury, head trauma – if the Insurance Company can deny the claim, they will do so to save the premiums dollars they have collected,” according to Loudoun, Fairfax and Leesburg car crash lawyer Landau.  What’s more, according to former Florida State Prosecutor Landau, many tickets are dismissed, not prosecuted, beaten and even appealed.  That is why it is so critical to take proactive steps after a car crash, EVEN IF THE OTHER DRIVER IS GIVEN A TICKET ! If you, or someone you know, has been injured in a car crash accident, please e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU (703-796-9555) BEFORE the Traffic Court date.  We have FREE information that can help you, even if we do not end up representing you.

When traveling to try cases, Florida, North Carolina and New Jersey car crash lawyer Doug Landau has rented cars from Enterprise.  He was shocked to see that one of the nation’s leading rental car companies ordered thousands of cars without side impact airbags in an attempt to save millions of dollars.  Then the rental car company sold the cars to buyers without the standard safety feature, according to a report from the Kansas City Star. It appears that Enterprise Rent-A-Car ordered a fleet of Chevy Impalas without the side impact airbags between 2006 and 2008. Although Chevy sells Impalas with that type of air bag as standard equipment, the buyer has the option to opt out of it, which Enterprise apparently did.

After renting out the vehicles, the Star learned that St. Louis-based Enterprise turned around and sold the used vehicles on its Web site, but failed to make clear that the Impalas were missing the air bags. Enterprise defended its decision to opt out of the air bags, stating that the needed safety feature is not yet required by the federal government. It was reported that the decision saved Enterprise $11.5 million on the roughly 66,000 vehicles. Enterprise also said it is not the only company to buy fleets of cars without side impact air bags.

But according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, studies have shown that side air bags with head protection can reduce highway deaths by up to 45%. An estimated 8,000 people were killed in side-impact collisions in 2007 alone, according to reports. Fox News reported that Enterprise has apologized and pledged to rectify the situation, but the company blamed a software glitch for the false advertising. According to Enterprise, 745 of the Impalas were sold nationwide.