Landau Injury Law

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.

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.

This just in on the Trial lawyers listServ from our friend Dick Thomas, esteemed Roanoke Virginia Workers Comp lawyer:

We just got a review opinion , written by Commissioner Dudley, reversing the deputy commissioner and awarding benefits. Claimant had a series of injuries over the years, and had bilateral degenerative disease of the hips. In 2003, he fell on his left hip, and the deputy commissioner ruled that the fall aggravated his preexisting degenerative disease. He then developed increased symptoms in the right hip, which his treating orthopedist at the time attributed to overuse from favoring the left hip. He then had a left hip replacement, covered under his award. Further problems with the right hip ensued, resulting in right hip replacement by a different surgeon. The original doctor failed to relate the right hip problem, and the treating surgeon refused to give an opinion.

The Defense was “consequence of a consequence,” and therefore NOT compensable. In other words, the defense lawyer contended that causation was TOO REMOTE and that the employer/carrier should not be held responsible any more. The trial judge (more…)

Herndon-Reston Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau and two dozen other experienced disability lawyers attended a special presentation by Commissioner William Dudley, Jr. today.  The Commissioner is one of only 3 Full Commissioners at the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission (”VWC”) headquarters in Richmond.  While he has over two decades of experience trying cases on behalf of injured workers and their families, Doug Landau attends these programs in order to stay abreast of current developments, and learn about the latest cases, rulings and trends.
The Abrams Landau, Ltd. trial lawyer has presented appeals before the Full Commission panel, upon which Commissioner Dudley sits.  This presentation by the learned judge was part of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (VTLA) 49th Annual Convention and Continuing Legal Education (”CLE”) program.  Doug Landau is a member of both the Workers Comp AND the Social Security Disability Law Sections of VTLA and the American Association for Justice (which is the National Trial Lawyers Association).  Commissioner Dudley covered such topics as: Assault & Battery, streamlining Workers Comp procedures, comp rate, presumptions in brain injury and head injury cases, overtime, disease and disability, injured Virginia Workers rights, remedies and medical care.  ABRAMS LANDAU trial lawyer Doug Landau is shown here with Commissioner Dudley, and on his left, preeminent insurance defense attorney Ben Trichilo, of Fairfax, Virginia.

What kinds of expert medical opinions did Doug Landau have to get from the doctors in order to assist his client in her Social Security Disability claim ? The ABRAMS LANDAU team was able to request and receive the treating doctor’s opinions that his patient would be able to sit and/or stand for less than 2 hours in an 8-hour day.

.Doug Landau, a past Chairman of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE Social Security, Disability and Health Law Section, is shown here with current Chair, Carolina Lawyer Eric Buchanon and another presenter after their Legal Education program at the national trial lawyers’ convention.

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Experienced Herndon, Virginia Social Security Disability Income lawyer Landau was able to elicit from the doctors many helpful opinions. Two physicians indicated that Landau’s client would need to take unscheduled breaks on an hourly basis lasting 10 minutes at a time and may need to lie down.

With prolonged sitting, she should elevate her legs to chair level approximately 50% of the time during an 8-hr. day. As for lifting, the claimant’s doctor opined that she can rarely lift 10 lbs. and never lift 20–50 lbs. Herndon Reston area Social Security Disability lawyer Doug Landau was able to elicit from this doctor statements that his client could NEVER squat, climb ladders or stairs. This experienced disability law practitioner was also able to present the Federal Judge with doctor’s opinions that his client had significant limitations with reaching, handling or fingering. These symptoms, along with the arthritis pain (more…)

When clients have obvious loss of function, injuries resulting in amputation or other obvious deformities, the Administrative Law Judges who hear Social Security claims have objective signs supporting disability. But when there is no outward sign of injury or disability, such as with cases of brain injury, spinal cord trauma, closed head injury, or internal organ disease, they often have a difficult time discerning legitimate claims from unsupported cases. When Herndon lawyer Doug Landau presents claims for clients who do not have obvious signs of injury or disease, he and the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team works hard to make sure the medical records and evidence support our clients’ legitimate claims.

In a recent case brought in Washington, D.C., Doug Landau brought a Social Security claim for a client who suffers from multiple medical conditions, including arthritis and continued abdominal pain including symptoms associated with diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome. The Herndon/Reston Virginia disability lawyer thoroughly reviewed this woman’s medical history. The medical record and exhibit revealed that she suffered constant pain (more…)

Herndon Reston area Workers Comp injury lawyer Doug Landau notes that since the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission (”VWC”) does not hold Hearings in Court houses as often as it did 20 years ago, it is important to know where you are going and that the place of your Hearing may not look like the local Court House.
If you can attend Hearings weeks before your own “day in court,” then you and your family and witnesses should absolutely do so.  Workers Comp Hearings are generally open to the public, and you will be far better prepared and less anxious.  Also look at your “Official Comp File” while you are there.  Call before you go to make sure they have your file is in Fairfax, as the headquarters is in Richmond, and that is where most VWC files are kept before and after Hearings.

Shown here is disability and workplace injury lawyer Doug Landau outside the Fairfax branch of the Northern Virginia Regional Office of the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission.  The lower picture shows ABRAMS LANDAU’s Doug Landau in the reception area, where he often meets clients, their families and co-workers before and after their Hearings.  On this particular day,  he had met with a family as the result of a fatal truck crash injury.  Landau also reviewed the official files on other clients’ cases involving: paraplegia from a farm tractor rollover, brain injury, spinal cord surgery, permanent disability, head trauma, scarring and multiple fractures.

Fredericksburg Virginia Radio station WFVA (1230 AM) will feature Herndon Injury Lawyer Doug Landau of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. on its morning “Peoples Law School” program Monday, March 17th at 9:00 AM.  The affable Triathlon Trial Lawyer will answer questions from callers as well as from the host, fellow Virginia Trial Lawyer John Harris.   So, if you have any questions about all kinds of injury claims, workers compensation, dog attacks, occupational diseases, defective products, sports accidents, children’s cases, brain injury, Social Security Disability or other related topics, please call in !  The number is 540-371-5756.

Where do I go to meet my Abrams Landau team before and after my Hearing at the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission in Manassas ?

Since the judges do not like people talking while Hearings are going on, there are small conference rooms available where Herndon “Super Lawyer” Doug Landau can meet clients, witnesses, experts and review the VWC OFFICIAL FILES.  Very often, this is a good place to collect one’s thoughts before ntering the Hearing room and testifying in an injury or occupational disease claim.  These conference rooms are also where witnesses who have been asked to wait outside of the Hearing room can stay until they are summoned by the bailiff or clerk to testify under oath.  Shown here is one such room at the Manassas Hearing location, located to the left of the Clerk’s office.  These rooms are found at “Sudley Tower”, off Route 234, just South of Route I-66 in Manassas, where Doug Landau routinely tries spinal cord surgery, broken bone, deep wound, infection, joint replacement, brain trauma, amputation, burn, chemical injury, disease, concussion,and other permanently disabling condition cases.