Landau Injury Law

I can tell you this, it’s not because I like to read insurance policies !The reason I ask for copies of MY OWN CLIENT’S Insurance policies is so that I can see what coverage is available in case the driver who crashed into them has no insurance (or very low limits of liability coverage).  The insurance policies on other cars and vehicles in my client’s household are also important.  There may be additional insurance protection from a spouse, parent or other relative’s insurance.  In those cases where the Defendant driver has no car insurance, the insurance my clients and their families may have is critical.  It may enable my clients to get full or more complete compensation.  The insurance company pays the judgement and then can pursue the negligent defendant for their money in what is known as a “subrogation claim.”  So, that is why I ask to look at ALL the insurance policies to see what coverages may be available to help pay for what has been broken, repair what needs to be fixed and provide resources for healing and care.

In order to gauge the likely value of a case, the ABRAMS LANDAU team looks at a number of things, whether the client is involved in a car wreck, bicycle crash, slip and fall, dog attack or are injured due to a defective product, dangerous premises or other negligent conduct.  One of the best indicators is looking at jury verdict, mediation, arbitration and settlement amounts from similar cases in the same or similar jurisdictions.  This often requires Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau use computer research.  Lauren Holtzman, shown here, utilizes the expensive Lexis-Nexus programs the firm pays for as well as other state, local and national sources.  We also look at our own, internal data in order to narrow the range of expected jury verdicts.  We also look at collectibility and assets in order to determine whether, once we win, we can economically collect compensation for our deserving clients.  

The trial team at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. get calls from all over the country from victims of negligence, assaults and permanent injuries.  We are often asked (or told) “there’s a formula to these cases, isn’t there ?”When a brain-injured client’s parent tells me, “My neighbor’s friend’s dentist said that you just multiply the medical bills times three and that’s what you get for settlement” it is hard to explain that this has no basis in reality.  If this was true, then the woman I represented who slipped, fell and then lost her ability to have children would not have been able to seek more than just her Emergency Room bills.  If there was a formula of “three times specials,” then my younger clients, who miss time from school, would not get fair compensation.   A homemaker or person who could not get medical care (i.e., no CT Scans, x-rays, heavy pain medications) because they are pregnant, would be treated unfairly.  And those people who seek out unethical lawyers and over treat or go to unscrupulous doctors, would be unjustly enriched.  So, there is no “magic formula.”  It would not work in the majority of our cases, and we do not apply it in setting our demands, amounts sought in court or accepted in settlement.  At our Herndon injury law shop, we try to help people with all kinds of injuries, losses and cases.  Every case is unique and special.   See tomorrow’s post for more information on how Doug Landau and the ABRAMS LANDAU team evaluates injury, disease and disability cases.

It’s never a good idea to stop during a sprint triathlon, that is, if you want a top finish !

Today I stopped not once, but three times !  I stopped in the cold, pool swim, in order to get my “electronics” (watch, “time window” goggle chronograph and heart rate monitor) working.  And then I had to stop on the bike ride twice.  My rear wheel was rubbing against the frame.  I could hear, feel and smell the burning rubber.  It was not safe.  And it’s better to be safe than sorry.  Especially when you represent injured athletes and bicyclists who have been in crashes.  Had I kept going, my wheel could have worn out or overheated and burst, causing me to crash, suffer a head impact or worse, a brain injury.  Averaging some 24 miles per hour, I try to not take unnecessary chances. There was a screw loose (many of you are cheeky enough to think, “no surprise there !”), and I was able to take the wheel off, and re-align it so that it would stay “true” for the remainder of the 12 mile bike course.  The Triathlon Trial Lawyer managed to finish in under 65 minutes, or about a minute slower than last year, for 14th overall, out of 550 registrants.  Had I not stopped 3 times, I believe that I would have been in the top 10 again, and had a course PR (= personal record).

Doug Landau, shown here with long-time Reston Triathlon Board Member Chuck James, volunteered at the 2nd annual Reston Sprint Triathlon at Lake Newport Pool.  The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer helped get athletes registered on Saturday.  Raising thousands of dollars for Reston Interfaith made the effort rewarding on many levels.  Doug will be racing tomorrow in this event which sold out in one day !  Multisport events are popular in Northern Virginia, and the race will be staffed by the wonderful people at Set Up Events.  The race is also part of the Virginia Triathlon Series (”VTS”), where racers get points that are tallied at the end of the season to determine overall winners.  Last year, Triathlon Trial Lawyer Doug Landau and 2 of his training buddies each won their age group at this race, and went on to win prizes in the overall series.  Doug races in the competitive 45-49 group, and winning the series last year gives him no guarantees going into his first VTS race of 2008.

With so many memorials and historic sights in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area, we sometimes forget some of the places that are outside of the Beltway that are accessible and beautiful in their own right.  I have always wanted to bike the length of the C&O Canal after hearing about it from Casamo Court Reporting. It would take a week, and there is even a connection that you can take with your bicycle, all the way to Pittsburgh !  While Memorial Day Weekend did not afford me enough time to do the C&O Canal to its terminus in Cumberland, Maryland, I did want to see some of its expanse outside the area immediately surrounding our Nation’s Capitol.  So, on Sunday and Monday, my bride and I did 3 hours of cycling on our mountain bikes on the C&O Canal.  The C&O was the route used to bring supplies into D.C., and many of the locks and other features are kept up by the Park Service.  You can walk it, bicycle or horseback ride it, and even canoe, kayak or action cat along side it.  There are even ferries to take you across the Potomac River !  The “Jubal Early” ferry in White’s Ferry charges $1.00 to take a cyclist AND their bike across the river !  You do not have to be a triathlete or bike racer - there are ALL shapes, sizes, speeds and styles on the Canal path.

While many clients are aware of the Herndon High School track and cross country teams running past the “Landau Law Shop” and that ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd’s 120-year-old building is on the Herndon Festival race courses, not many know that in  the evening, on Thursdays, the Reston Bike Club leaves from the parking lot by the Caboose down the street.  With 5 levels of riders and directional “cue sheets,” the RBC draws many riders to the “Downtown Historic District” of Herndon, Virginia.  Doug Landau can see the group assembling from the upper balcony of the main ABRAMS LANDAU building.   During the racing season, the TriathlonTrialLawyer tries to join these skilled bicycle riders as they bike around Herndon, Reston, Ashburn, Sterling and other areas in Fairfax County and Loudoun County.  Since the “Landau Law Shop” is located by the 20 mile mark of the W&OD Trail, clients, teammates and friends have visited with us before and after their bike rides and/or run training.  Shown here is Herndon sports injury lawyer Doug Landau with Reston Road Runners Club President, Reston Triathlon Race Director and Virginia Trial Lawyer Donna Rostant before a recent Thursday night ride.

The Columbia Triathlon is another example of how I try to always combine friends, family, sports and the law.

This Olympic Distance race is one of the most competitive in the United States. The course included a cold mile lake around an island (so you could not see the finish until later in that leg of the race); a 26 mile bike ride over a hilly, challenging course; and then a 6.2 mile “rolling” run, with several steep hills. I improved over 6 minutes from my 2003 time with a 2:27:34, finishing 191st overall, out of over 1,900 finishers (and 2,500 starters). Here I am about to pump my tires before the race begins. (more…)

Here are some reasons Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau or ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. may advise a client that it is in their interests to enter a compromise settlement rather than risk a jury trial: 1. Time - you get compensation faster,2. Cost - you save on the expenses of trial,3. Emotional cost - you eliminate the uncertainty of trial,4. Patient-Physician relationship not subject to cross-examination, in public, causing your doctor to have doubts or unpleasantness,5. Privacy - “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” but what comes out in discovery or Court, does not always “stay put,”6. A jury may award you less,7. A jury may award you nothing,8. A judge may take away the jury’s verdict,9. The Defense may appeal the verdict, causing more time loss, expense and stress,10.  If the defendant or insurance company goes into bankruptcy, the proceedings are stayed and there is often more delay.

When an injured victim of a crash is brought into an emergency room, x-rays are often ordered. However, Herndon Reston area brain injury lawyer Doug Landau notes that while such diagnostic testing, while good for showing broken bones and fractures, does not show many kinds of brain injury. For example, a cyclist or motorist injured in a crash may have a subdural hematoma (sometimes spelled, “haematoma”) which may not show up in the Hospital immediately on a post-accident x-ray.
A Subdural Hematoma is a collection of blood that pools under the dura. Because x-rays do not “see” blood as easily as hard, boney structures, Doug Landau advises that these are sometimes missed. The dura is a relatively tough connective tissue (collagenous) membrane, about the thickness of parchment paper. It is firmly attached to the under surface of the skull, and in the spinal canal, it is separated from the bony structure (more…)