Landau Injury Law

At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we have helped many clients with their injury cases. What we find particularly gratifying, is the fact that they call upon our Herndon Reston area injury and disability law firm when they or their loved ones have an injury case after their original case has been won or settled.

In the case of one such client, we settled his Virginia Workers Compensation claim several years ago.  He moved on with his life, and returned to work at about the time of his lump sum settlement.  He then injured a different part of his body in an accident several years later.  He and his wife contacted Doug Landau, not because he was listed in “Best Lawyers in America” or the Washington Post’s annual “Super Lawyer” coverage, but because the Herndon, Virginia trial lawyer had done a good job for him the first time, knew his complete medical history, and the injured worker knew his accident case would be harder the second time.

We were able to get a “stipulated (agreed) Order” from the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission and then get the claim settled for a lump sum without his having to go to court and wait for a decision.  Some of this hard-working and enterprising claimant’s settlement funds went towards the purchase of a classic automobile.  As you can see, he has done a remarkable job repairing it and fixing it up to near mint condition.  Workers Comp Legal Assistant Dianna Meredith is shown with the client after he came to the Landau Law Shop to sign the settlement documents for the successful settlement of his second Virginia Workers Compensation claim.

In this day and age of Blackberries, computers, and cell phones, how many of us use the pay phone ?

It can be one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal. Clients call us from all over the world. The ABRAMS LANDAU staff will schedule telephone conferences when Doug Landau is in the office, since he cannot have a mobile phone in many State and Federal courthouses.  However, if it is an emergency, let us know at once, so WE CAN CALL YOU, especially if you are at a pay phone or unable to be reached any other way. Keeping the lines of communication open is one of the hallmarks of our Herndon Reston area injury and disability law firm.

Doug Landau is shown here at South Lakes High School with instructor Faye Cascio after registering and submitting samples in order to become a Bone Marrow Donor.  The National Bone Marrow Donor Program came to the Reston High School in order to recruit new participants.  According to their web site, “On any given day, more than 6,000 men, women and children are searching the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry for a life-saving donor like you. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. For many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only hope of a cure.”

Furthermore, “For a successful transplant, the tissue type of a bone marrow donor or a cord blood unit needs to match the patient’s as closely as possible. Special testing determines whether a patient and bone marrow donor or cord blood unit are a good match. The closer the match, the better for the patient.”  The Herndon Reston disability and injury lawyer was pleased to report a tremendous turnout.  Having represented people with these diseases before the Federal Social Security Administration and courts, Landau recognizes the impact they have on his clients’ and their families’ lives.

Shown here are the x-ray machinery from one of our state-of-the-art local hospitals.  These machines can show fractures and de-mineralized bone.  The radiographic films can show such things as loss of disc height and the lordotic curve in cases involving injury to the back, neck and spine.  However, they cannot “spot” all traumatic injuries from car crashes, falls, and other accidents.  For example, x-rays often “miss” herniated vertebral discs, new stress fractures, and infections.  X-rays are not designed to catch all “soft tissue,” “connective tissue” or “traumatic brain” injuries, which is why doctors also use: MRI, Discography, CT Scans, Myelograms, EMG, physcial examination and other diagnostic testing.  These other tests frequently provide the “objective confirmatories” for the subjective complaints of pain that follow a car wreck, fall from a scaffold or other traumatic injury.

    Recently, we received an e-mail from a client the day after his hearing with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission in Manassas.  The Deputy Commissioner has not rendered a decision yet on this very difficult case.  Our aim is to get the best result for our clients given the circumstances of their case.
“Just wanted to say a big “THANKS” to Mr. Landau and you for all of your help and PATIENCE for everything that you both have done.”

I have previously written about the tragic case of the boy whose foot was “swallowed” at a professional baseball game by the escalator at Shea Stadium.  My father’s record verdict in that case helped to bring to light the fact that escalators pose a significant risk of injury, especially when they are not inspected or tested for safety on a regular basis.  At Abrams Landau, Ltd., we understand that escalators pose sometimes  unreasonable risk of injury to children, the elderly and the disabled.  Our Herndon Reston area injury law firm has helped people with cases where they have been thrown down an escalator due to short stops, and where unsafe gaps in the sides have caught footwear, feet and clothing, causing catastrophic injuries.

According to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates, nearly 11,000 peopled suffered injuries related to riding an escalator last year. An industry trade group said that escalators are “inherently safe” despite those injuries. Others questions their safety, especially in states where escalator owners, and not regulators, test the machines for compliance.  For the rest of this article, go to: Alison Young, Atlanta Journal-Constitution  12/07/2008

The Fairfax Loudoun area law firm Abrams Landau, Ltd. joined forces with the national and regional law firms that comprise InjuryBoard.  Doug Landau had been working with InjuryBoard founder and Florida lawyer Tom Young for several years, and decided after the National Trial Lawyers Convention to make the link.  You can see posts by te Herndo and Reston area injury and disability lawyer, as well as other staff members of Abrams Landau, Ltd.  The InjuryBoard community is dedicated to personal safety, injury prevention and recovery.  December is Toy & Child Safety Month, and there will be many posts covering this timely topic.  There are also InjuryBoard “Help Centers” which are an online collection of the best information, professional opinion, and practical advice to help you and your family stay safe and avoid accidents. If you or a loved one are injured, the Help Centers will help you understand the life process of an accident and discover practical steps to get you the help you need to move forward with your life.

The family of a security worker trampled to death by Wal-Mart shoppers on New York’s Long Island filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the retail giant.  The 34-year-old man was knocked to the ground and trampled to death. He had been assigned to cover security as an independent contractor.

In the lawsuit, the family claims the worker’s death was caused by reckless and gross negligence in the staging and promotion of “Black Friday” sales. The lawsuit also names the shopping center where the incident occurred and the security company hired to manage additional shopper traffic.  Reuters 12/03/08.  While there may be bargains, Herndon Reston area Doug Landau prefers to stay far “away from the maddening crowds.”   Everyone at Abrams Landau, Ltd. recognizes the pall this tragedy puts on the holiday season, an suggests that our clients shop carefully, safely and responsibly this year.

New York state officials filed a lawsuit against CVS Caremark Corp. over the sale of expired products at its stores.  An investigation last year revealed that CVS, the nation’s second-largest drug store chain, had sold expired products in 60 percent of its New York stores.   Bloomberg also reported that the state announced that Rite Aid Corp. had agreed to pay as much as $1.3 million to settle similar allegations.  As part of its settlement, Rite Aid agreed to conduct weekly inspections of its New York stores to ensure expired over-the-counter drugs, infant formula, milk and eggs aren’t offered for sale, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said today in a statement. Rite Aid will immediately pay a $1 million civil penalty and as much as $300,000 more if it fails to comply with the agreement during the next three years.  “In today’s difficult economic times, consumers should not be spending their hard-earned money on expired products that may be harmful to themselves or their children,” Cuomo said in the 12/04/2008 article by Karen Freifeld of Bloomberg.
The lesson to be learned is to ALWAYS check the expiration dates, especially with medications.  Doug Landau would also recommend that during the winter holidays, that you and your family go on a “treasure hunt” through your medicine cabinets.  Throw away those that have expired so that you or your loved ones do not become sick from a remedy that is no longer safe or effective.

The family of a California woman who died following neck surgery filed a lawsuit Tuesday against medical device maker Medtronic Inc.   According to the lawsuit, the woman’s death was caused by use of the Infuse spinal graft in her neck and a Medtronic representative encouraged the surgeon to use the implant for off-label uses prior to the surgery.   Doctors are free to use devices as they see fit. But medical device companies are prohibited by law from marketing for unapproved, or “off-label,” uses.  Herndon Reston injury lawyer Doug Landau filed the first lawsuit in the country for the “off label use” of the diet drug combination “Phen-Fen” in the Alexandria Circuit Court.  The Virginia trial lawyer, along with Aaron Levine and Paul Rheingold alleged that the combination of these two drugs created an substantial risk of harm to the woman and caused her heart valve damage.  Drugs developed for one type of problem have been marketed, in an effort to increase their profitability, for other problems for which they may not have FDA or other regulatory approval.  If you have been injured by a defective drug or medical device, contact us at Abrams Landau, Ltd.  There are strict time limits in these kinds of claims.

The Infuse graft uses a man-made version of a human protein to encourages bone growth.  In 2006 Medtronic reached a $40 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle charges that it paid physicians millions in kickbacks to use its spinal repair products. Medtronic denied any wrongdoing.  According to the Washington Post, shares of Medtronic rose 99 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $30.29 in afternoon trading. AP, The Washington Post  12/03/2008