In his lawsuit, the deceased girl’s father alleged he told the host parents, “No boys with cars.”  Despite her agreement to that request, the friend’s mother allegedly permitted her daughter to ride with the boy, which left the victim no choice but to go along.

The case produced an opinion from the Supreme Court of Virginia that a parent who agrees to supervise and care for a child has a common law duty to do so with reasonable care.  The court’s ruling sent the case back to Henrico County Circuit Court for trial. According to the stories in Lawyers Weekly, trial had been scheduled for July, 2010. The plaintiff’s family hopes the case will bring attention to the responsibility that adults have towards children in their care and the risks of teenagers driving with multiple teenage passengers.

Bottom line according to car crash and wrongful death attorney Doug Landau: if you agree to take responsibility for someone else’s kids, you had better do so responsibly.  And if the rule is “No driving with boys,” then, as the supervising parent or adult, you allow no driving.

Paul Lesti & Doug Landau in the ABRAMS LANDAU law library during the economics & structured settlement expert's recent DC visit

Herndon, Ashburn and Sterling Park injury and workers compensation lawyer Doug Landau often counsels his disabled clients and their families as to the availability of “structured settlements.”  In other words, instead of a lump sum payment, clients and their families may be better served by monthly, yearly and even “balloon payments” in the future.  There are many kinds of annuity payments and structures.  In some permanent injury cases, the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team, working with experts, economists and annuitants, have fashioned periodic payments:

• that pay the claimant monthly for a set number of years
• that pay the client yearly for life
• that pay the injured child annually, on her birthday, with a lump sum payment for college when turns 18
• that pay the disabled worker every month for the rest of his wife’s life
• that pay a small monthly amount, with 4 large payments during the “college years”
• that pay monthly at one rate, then go to a higher rate at age 62 (retirement)

The best lawyers believe that the long-term welfare of their clients is of the utmost importance.  Many injured plaintiffs do not have financial advisors or other experts to help them plan for their future financial needs. Structuring a large workers compensation or personal  injury settlement or Mediation Award can reduce anxiety, tax consequences and avoid early dissipation of these important funds.  That is why the Landau Law Shop will retain a structured settlement expert, even when there already is an annuitant on the case for the insurance company or their agent.  By having this “second opinion,” the Herndon injury, disability and wrongful death law firm can have a second set of eyes make sure that their clients are getting fair rates, good returns and financial protection.

One such expert is Paul Lesti, with whom Loudoun, Prince William and Fairfax County injury and workers comp lawyer Doug Landau and his father have worked for over 2 decades.  Mr. Lesti came to visit the “Law Shop” while attending a conference in Washington, D.C.  He has been an invaluable resource in analyzing structured settlement offers, placing annuities, evaluating the “present value” of workers compensation Awards, and negotiating with the insurance companies.  If you or someone you know has been permanently disabled due to an on the job injury or other accident, please e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd.

Doug Landau after a videotaped deposition in Coral Gables Florida

As an alum of the University of Miami, the news report of the settlement of the tragic accident involving a student struck a cord with Florida and Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau as used to run and bike on the streets around the beautiful Dade County campus.  The city of Coral Gables agreed last month to pay $1.96 million to a young woman who was run over by a street sweeper and was dragged 200 feet.  In 2008 the a 19-year-old University of Miami student was crossing the street when she was struck. She lost all of her teeth and one eye and most of the skin was stripped from her face. Her spleen was destroyed and had to be removed and her stomach was severely lacerated. She sustained fractures to her femur and 12 ribs. Milov was in a coma for 30 days and underwent 10 surgeries. She will need at least five more surgeries and continues physical therapy. The city settled before a suit was filed according to the Miami Hurricane.

The settlement of $1,960,500 will help cover junior’s medical bills of $1,250,000.The City of Coral Gables will use $310,000 from the city’s insurance fund to cover a portion of the settlement.  The New Jersey native was walking near the Village of Merrick Park at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 11 when the incident occurred.  The college student walked down a poorly lit side street in dark clothes and it was drizzling. The Defendant driver of the Coral Gables street sweeper was traveling east on Altara Avenue and turned, going north on Aurora Avenue and hitting the girl as she was crossing the pedestrian walkway.  The street sweeper driver then drove 153 feet until an alarm told him that something was causing the sweeper to malfunction. A witness at the scene called out to him saying that a person was under the sweeper.  He then drove 60 feet backwards. The injured student was ejected, lying unconscious on the road. At first, the Defendant driver gave police a false account.  The police report, released 10 days after the incident occurred, said a person was stumbling across the cross walk, “not doing ‘good’, and fell down.”  As the Defendant drove on, he “felt a bump,” according to the report.  Police say the Defendant fabricated the person stumbling and falling because he was scared after the crash.  A Coral Gables employee since 2006, the Defendant sweeper truck driver was charged in November with a civil traffic infraction, for failure to yield to a pedestrian. The University student was in critical condition when taken to the intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.  “It’s a very difficult medical situation,’’ said Aaron Podhurst, the Plaintiff’s family’s lawyer, (and a long time friend of both Norman and Doug Landau) “We are very hopeful she will continue to recover, but she has a long haul in front of her.’’

Doug Landau will use the professional medical illustrations prepared by MediVisuals in all four of his May Virginia Trial Lawyers Association presentations

Speaking on how to quickly and effectively settle, mediate and arbitrate personal injury and wrongful death cases, Doug Landau actually brought a dozen exhibits from cases that the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team has won.  By showing lawyers in Richmond what kinds of real evidence and demonstrative aids work in the court room, Herndon, Broadlands and Ashburn area injury lawyer hoped to assist them in getting better results for the victims of accidents and their families.  ”You have to invest time AND money in your exhibits and trial preparation if you want to get good results for your disabled clients” Landau told the nearly sold out audience, “You cannot do serious personal injury cases on the cheap.  You must spend the money on professional MediVisuals medical illustrations, enlargements, transcripts and investigation.”

The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (”VTLA“) followed Landau’s speech and demonstrations with “Use of Technology: High Tech, Low Tech, No Tech A Panel of Local Judges will discuss Admission of Exhibits.” The panel of judges will change at each location, and will consist of:

• May 4, 2010 – Richmond: Hannah Lauck, U.S. Magistrate Judge, Eastern District, Richmond Margaret Spencer, Richmond Circuit Court Theodore Markow, Richmond Circuit Court
• May 18, 2010 – Roanoke: Waugh Crigler, U.S. Magistrate Judge, Western District, Charlottesville Charles Dorsey, Roanoke City Circuit Court James Swanson, Roanoke County Circuit Court
• May 25, 2010 – Norfolk: Jerrauld Jones, Norfolk Circuit Court Stephen Mahan, Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Bradford Stillman, U.S. Magistrate Judge, Eastern District, Norfolk
• May 27, 2010 – Fairfax: Thomas Horne, Loudoun Circuit Court Dennis Smith, Fairfax Circuit Court Anthony Trenga, Eastern District, U.S. District Court, Alexandria

Richmond Virginia defense lawyer and Mediator Michael Harmon & Herndon Reston area plaintiff's personal injury lawyer Doug Landau after their CLE presentation today

Everyone who knows Herndon injury lawyer Doug Landau knows he likes to talk !  After success at the American Association for Justice meeting of the National Trial Lawyers in February and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention in March, Landau is “taking it out on the road,” by teaching and giving presentations in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk and Fairfax during the month of May.  The lawyers who pay hundreds of dollars to attend these Continuing Legal Education programs, get required legal education and ethics credits and learn the latest development in the laws and personal injury trial practice.  The written materials that went with Landau’s speech were made available electronically, just as was the case at the National Trial Lawyers meeting this winter.

The ABRAMS LANDAU injury lawyer’s presentations will enable participants to hear from plaintiff and defense attorneys on

1. Creative, professional demand packages
2. Settlement conferences/mediation/arbitration
3. High/low agreements
4. Tips for low cost use of technology in demand and settlement
5. When high tech is worth the cost

While Douglas Landau, of Abrams Landau Ltd., Herndon, will be speaking at all four locations, as he has actually tried cases in all corners of the Commonwealth of Virginia, he is paired with a different experienced defense lawyer at each venue.  The top defense attorneys Landau has been teamed with include:

• Michael Harman of Harman, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, Richmond (Richmond)
• David Carson of Johnson, Ayers & Matthews, Roanoke (Roanoke),
• Robert Rigney of Protogyrou & Rigney, Norfolk (Norfolk),
• Stephen Crum of Robey Teumer & Drash, (Nationwide Staff Counsel, Fairfax/Northern Virginia).

All clients know that they can call the Landau Law Shop to find out when and where Doug Landau will next be trying cases, speaking, taking depositions, teaching or racing.  This “open book” policy has enabled many ABRAMS LANDAU clients and their friends and families to meet with Doug Landau “close to home” and members of the Law Shop Trial Team without having to travel to the Herndon Reston area, or battle the infamous “Beltway.”

Post-exam Virginia Tech "Beer Pong" game leads to fight, skull surgeries, head injury lawsuit and this month's Virginia Supreme Court decision

After finishing final exams at Virginia Tech, Adam Copp was celebrating and playing beer pong with one of his roommates at a Blacksburg apartment.  Two strangers joined the game and one of them, Carson Dugger, said something to offend Copp.  The young men then got into a shouting match that turned physical when Dugger’s friends came on the scene.  Copp found himself with four or five people between him and Dugger.  Copp swung his arm and struck one of Dugger’s friends, Gregory Jacobson.  Copp said he was just trying to get free from the group.  Jacobson accused Copp of throwing punches and hitting him intentionally.  Jacobson, the plaintiff in this case, was badly injured. Two surgeries were required to repair his fractured skull.  Jacobson brought a lawsuit as the result of his severe and permanent head injuries against Copp for assault and battery, alleging intentional injury.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has just handed down a decision ruling that an insurance company owes a defense for the Virginia Tech student who was sued over injuries he caused in this fight.  Nationwide Insurance had a duty to defend Copp, the court ruled, because its umbrella policy contained language providing coverage for bodily injury caused by an insured “trying to protect person or property.” The “self-defense” exception required looking beyond the “eight corners” of the policy and the Complaint, the court held.

Nationwide Insurance had won at the trial level, getting the Circuit Court to rule that it owed no duty to defend Copp in the lawsuit.  The homeowner’s policy and the umbrella policy excluded liability for intentional acts causing personal injury, but the umbrella policy contained an exception: the exclusion “does not apply to bodily injury or property damage caused by an insured trying to protect person or property.”

In prior decisions, according to the Virginia Lawyers Weekly news report, the court required review of only the “four corners” of the complaint and the “four corners” of the policy to decide if an insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify its insured. The analysis of both documents was referred to as the “eight corners rule.”  The unusual “self-defense” exception in the umbrella policy, however, required consideration of Copp’s evidence, the Supreme Court held in an opinion authored by Senior Justice Harry L. Carrico. “[I]t requires consideration of an insured’s claim that he or she caused bodily injury or property damage trying to protect person or property in evaluating whether there is a duty to defend in a given case,” Carrico wrote.

The case is: Copp v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company (Carrico, S.J.) No. 090345, April 15, 2010; Montgomery County Cir.Ct. (Turk). VLW 010-6-041

In this tragic case, the decedent was stopped in construction traffic on Interstate 75 when he was struck from behind by a 70-mph tractor-trailer. The plaintiff bled to death in his 11-year-old son’s lap.  Plaintiffs’ counsel blamed general contractor Zep Construction and subcontractor Traffic Control Products, alleging that the usual warning lights and other hazard equipment were not present. Counsel argued that the lack of adequate warnings was a cost-saving measure. The jury found that the defendants knowingly operated dangerously and were motivated by financial gain. It found Zep Construction 65 percent liable, Traffic Control Products 30 percent liable and the truck driver, who was not a party, 5 percent liable.  The family of the man killed in this tragic rear-ender contraction site crash, which was witnessed by his son who was a passenger, recovered $4.2 million.  If you or someone you know has been injured in a construction zone accident,  on the job accident or become disabled as the result of an occupational disease or illness, Please e-mail or call ABRAMS LANDAU (703-796-9555) today.

Clearview Elementary School students pose with Doug Landau after he dropped off additional supplies

Clearview Elementary School in Southern Alexandria, Virginia was the scene of herndon Reston area trial lawyer Doug Landau’s recent “road trip.”  After an appearance in the Alexandria Circuit Court, lawyer Landau visited the second grade classroom of Ms. Holtje, which ABRAMS LANDAU had donated money to buy books and reading center.  Ms. Holtje runs a wonderful classroom, and Landau hopes to return to read to the children, just as he did at Navy and Crossfield Elementary Schools in Western Fairfax County Virginia.

The ABRAMS LANDAU team works with injured and disabled children regularly, so it is a real pleasure to work with healthy, happy children.  He salutes hard working public school teachers like Ms. Holtje, whose budgets have been cut, and whose classrooms are often overcrowded and who receive less and less support from the communities whose children they try to teach.  This site will publish some of the wonderful thank you notes and pictures from the students soon.

Injuries and car crashes involving children walking to school are becoming rarer as fewer students walk

Having walked to school, Virginia trial lawyer Doug Landau knows what it is like to have motorists come too close for comfort.  The Herndon Reston area attorney walked all the way to high school, often with his backpack, trumpet and sports equipment weighing him down !  Recently, Landau was apprised of a case where a 14 year old boy was struck by a car while walking on the street to school.  The negligent defendant driver hit the boy from behind.  The boy was knocked unconscious and was taken to the hospital.

Plaintiff’s counsel alleged that the defendant was negligent in failing to observe the street for pedestrians. The injured boy claimed he suffered closed head trauma to his frontal lobe and injuries to his back and knee. The plaintiff also alleged the traumatic brain injury that affected his executive functioning and, as a result, he failed two grades in school.  Defense counsel, in order to avoid responsibility for all the child’s injuries and permanent brain damage, claimed the teen suffered from a syndrome that caused his cognitive troubles.  Counsel for the defendant driver also contended plaintiff had Marfan Syndrome, which was the cause of his troubles in school.  Marfan is a genetic connective tissue disease.  This child’s traumatic Brain Injury (”TBI”) case settled for $1,450,000 prior to trial.

The Plaintiff alleged defendant was negligent in failing to maintain a proper lookout and operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.  The Defendant admitted he heard a thump and fled the scene because he was scared. The Defendant was criminally charged with felony hit-and-run and driving under the influence.  Both charges carry serious penalties under the law of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  The defendant had admitted liability (fault).  After a bench trial, the Rockingham County Circuit Court judge rendered a verdict of $600,000.  Former prosecutor Doug Landau points out that even where there are criminal and/or traffic court convictions, an injured plaintiff can still recover restitution under the Defendant’s insurance policy(s) in the civil case from the same incident.