Landau Injury Law

A Missouri judge has ordered several defendants to pay $7.25 million to a man who suffered severe injuries when he was attacked by a group of pit bulls in 2006. In the ruling, the judge found that the plaintiff was left with complex facial lacerations, extensive lacerations to his upper and lower extremities, and multisystem organ failure from the attack. An additional $300,000 was also awarded to Hill’s wife, as Missouri law allows for “loss of consortium” claims.  Herndon and Reston area trial lawyer Doug Landau points out that Virginia law does not allow for a spouse’s separate claim for this loss of sex, society and services.  However, there are other states that recognize this item of loss.  If you are the victim of an animal attack or have been bitten by a dog, you AND your spouse may have rights under the law of the state where the attack occurred.  Each state also has its own time deadlines that must be strictly followed.  Failure to stay within the time limits can lead to the termination of an otherwise meritorious dog attack case.  Kevin Hoffmann, Kansas City Star, 06/10/2008  

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.

In 2007, Doug Landau and the trial team at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. declined several dog attack cases. Examples of such cases include:

Example A: A child was bitten on the cheek by a dog in the Roanoke Valley. The homeowners had specifically signed an insurance policy that forbade (more…)

The short answer is “yes,”  you can collect medpay if you are injured at a store, office building or home.  Medpay is short for “Medical Payments” insurance, which generally covers medical bills incurred, by someone legally on the property, who is hurt, up to the limit of the insurance.  So, if a client slips, falls, and cracks his skull because the Defendant Store had a leaky roof that dripped water for years and froze in the winter, the client could collect on the medpay insurance.  If the store had a $5,000 medpay policy, he could collect those funds, generally for bills that were reasonable, related to this accident and not the product of over treatment.  Usually such medpay (or “no fault” policies) require that payments be made only for medical bills incurred within a year of the accident.  This type of policy comes in very handy for clients who have no health insurance.  It is also great “Public Relations” for the store and saves them from many lawsuits.  The managers on duty typically run up and say, “It’s OK, we’ll pay for your medical care.”  They do not say, however, that there are monetary and time limits.  Private homes and officve buildings can also have “medpay coverage.”  So if you, or someone you know is injured due to a dangerous or defective building, store or home, please call us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd.  We can investigate not only the liability claim to determine fault but there may also be medpay or other “no fault” type coverages available to help get you back on the road to recovery.

The Herndon, Virginia law firm Abrams Landau, Ltd., currently has pending dog attack cases involving children and adults in Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey. Doug Landau and the Trial Team were successful in 2007 in resolving cases for clients and families from Virginia, New Jersey and California. If you or someone you know has been the victim of an animal attack, please contact us at once. Delay in the investigation of these claims can be fatal to the case. On a recent “road trip” from Pennsylvania, Virginia Trial Lawyer Doug Landau took pictures and investigated several dog attack cases in the Middle Atlantic States.  [Shown here is the Hudson County Courthouse in New Jersey, where Doug Landau successfully advocates on behalf of clients attacked by dogs while in the course of their work for the Post Office and Police Department.]

While on the Virginia Tech campus to meet with past and present car crash, pedestrian knock down, workers compensation, premises liability (slip and fall) and injured athlete clients, Herndon/Reston area lawyer Doug Landau came across some very odd looking Police patrol vehicles. The TriathlonTrialLawyer met the Virginia Tech “Tricycle Police.” These stable vehicles enable the TechSecurity force to cover more ground than they could on foot, and have the added advantage of a higher sight line and not having to carry heavy equipment on their belts or backs. Fairfax County personal injury lawyer Doug Landau has successfully represented police officers and fire fighters who have been injured while running on the job. (more…)

While the plaintiff in McMurray v. Bryan won a verdict for horse bite that tore off her thumb in California, Herndon-Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau believes that if the case had been tried in Virginia, the result would have been a Defense verdict ! 

The plaintiff was a 52-year-old woman who lost her thumb when an agitated horse bit it off.  She was petting the Appaloosa horse’s nose until she noticed it getting angry. She backed up a few feet and the horse charged at her.  The horse bit her hand raised its head and lifted her off the ground. The Plaintiff’s head then struck a tree branch before the horse tore the thumb from her hand and she fell to the ground.  Surgery was performed to put the finger back on her hand, but the thumb eventually died and now she has a prosthetic thumb.  The California jury found the Plaintiff 75% liable for her injuries, the land owner 15% liable and the horse owner 10% liable, which reduced her $324,000 award to about $81,000.  This is because California allows for the comparison of the fault of the parties.  Virginia does not allow such comparison, and the Plaintiff’s “Assumption of the Risk” and “Contributory Negligence” would have caused the result to have been a defense verdict according to multistate injury trial lawyer Doug Landau.  The ABRAMS LANDAU trial team notes that this is another example of why comparisons of cases from different jurisdictions are not always helpful.

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.