Landau Injury Law

“PICC” (or “PIC line”) is a form of intravenous (”IV”) access that can be used for a prolonged period of time (i.e., extended antibiotic therapy).  However, what most people don’t know is that these lines can also cause significant damage to nerves if not inserted and removed properly.

Warrenton and Fauquier County dog attack injury lawyer Doug Landau has recently been consulted in a case involving precisely this type of damage.  A Warrenton Virginia area client was attacked by dogs when he arrived at a residence to do repair work.  The trained attack dogs came at him without provocation, and he was bitten in his dominant hand.  The would became septic, and the injured worker was admitted to the Fauquier Hospital for treatment and IV antibiotic therapy.  The infection was treated, but when the PICC line was removed, he had tingling, weakness and pain in his upper extremity on the non-dominant side.    This has left the client with bouts of pain, loss of feeling at different points and an inability to get a full night’s restful sleep.  He also cannot make a tight grip or oppose fingers as he had been accustomed prior to the attack and he workers compensation insurance company is withholding benefits and authorization for further medical care.

Any person suffering similar symptoms should immediately contact a doctor.  They should also document all of their symptoms and communicate these to their doctor and other health care providers.  The longer a patient waits to address these symptoms the greater the risk of permanent injury.  If you or someone you know has been injured in an on the job accident or dog attack and would like our assistance, please e-mail us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., or call 703-796-9555 today.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (”OSHA”) is investigating the death of a SeaWorld Orlando killer whale trainer.  An autopsy showed that the veteran sea mammal trainer likely died of multiple traumatic injuries and drowning, according to the Orange County Medical Examiner.  How the park handled previous whale attacks will also be a part of the OSHA investigation.

According to news accounts, this whale had been associated with two prior fatal attacks.  In this latest attack, the orca dragged the trainer to her death underwater in front of horrified spectators.  Sea World workers described to the press how the killer whale dragged the aquarium trainer by her hair with his massive jaws and teeth and would not let go.  The frenzy of the fatal attack shocked onlookers and begs the question, “If this animal had been involved in two prior fatalities, what additional safety measures were taken to protect the Sea World employees ?”

One of the most terrifying experiences is  being chased by a pit bull, or several pit bulls.  These vicious dogs are often trained to attack and cause permanent disabling injury.  As a child, dog bite injury lawyer Doug Landau was warned by his neighbors that their pit bulls were bred by the Romans to fight lions in the coliseum, and that their strong jaws and teeth could rip into the jugular veins of their enemies.   As an adult, the Chantilly canine attack lawyer saw firsthand how devastating dog bite injuries can be to his clients and friends.  The staff at ABRAMS LANDAU has seen how the emotional scarring can last long after the physical wounds have healed.  How does one safely avoid the deep, penetrating wounds that often result from a put bull and other large dog attacks ?

According to Daniel Estep of the The National Animal Control Association’s training academy,

• “If the dog is 50 yards away and starts after you, if you can escape somewhere – inside a building. or on top of your car, or jump a fence – then that’s probably the best thing to do.  If the dog iis closer than that, then that’s not a good idea.  In a footrace, you’re going to lose.  The January Esquire Magazine piece continues,

• If the attack is imminent, try to shove something in its mouth, hopefully not a body part.
• If you’ve got a briefcase or clipboard or even a coat, shove that at the dog.  Most of the time, dogs are going to bite the first thing they get their teeth around.  And then you can try to walk your way out of the situation.
• If that’s not possible, feed him your nondominant arm.  Arm, not hand.  And let him grab onto that and try to get yourself out of the situation.  The last thing you want to have happen is to be taken off your feet, because then it’s much more difficult to protect yourself from serious injuries.
• If you get brought down, the best advice is to curl up into a ball and try to protect your belly and chest area.  Cover your neck with your hands and loop your arm around so that it covers your face.  When people roll up into this position and don’t move, oftentimes the dogs lose interest.”

If you or someone you know has been injured in pit bull or other dog or animal attack, please e-mail us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., or call 703-796-9555 today.

ABRAMS LANDAU negligence, liability, personal injury & jury trial paralegal Krisin Tanzi and her canine assistant

Another friendly, experienced and helpful voice ABRAMS LANDAU clients and their families have come to appreciate is that of Kristin Tanzi.  If a case involves negligence, liability and jury trial issues, Mrs. Tanzi will likely be interacting with you along with law clerk Shawn Shook and Landau Law Shop founding partner Doug Landau.

Recently, she helped Mr. Landau successfully conclude a dog bite case in New Jersey, prepare a trucking negligence case in Georgia and an airport cart crash case in Florida.  Legal assistant and paralegal Kristan Tanzi has experience working for law firms in New York and Texas before joining the Herndon Reston area law firm.  The Ashburn area paralegal’s responsibilities include:
•    Intermediary between attorney and clients, opposing counsel and justice system personnel
•    Drafting and filing of pleadings and correspondence (i.e., Interrogatories, Discovery Requests and Responses, Settlement Agreements)
•    Discovery preparation (i.e. correlation of client’s discovery responses)
•    Preparation of insurance claim forms for clients; Correspondence with insurance companies regarding clients claims
•    Trial preparation and attendance
•    Case file and client management
•    Scheduling appointments and court dates
•    Deposition coordination
•    Screening of potential clients
•    Docket control

Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau is often asked, “What is a premises liability case ?”

Premises Liability Lawyer Doug Landau under Dallas International Airport artwork

The author of several hundred pages of the best-selling Lexis Nexis 3 volume set, “Premises Liability: Practice and Procedure,” explains that when a building’s design, upkeep or use causes injury, the injured victim can bring a premises liability claim for their injuries and losses.  This is true whether it is a slip and fall, falling roof shingles, loose steps, tripping cases and even faulty doors, elevators and escalators.  Premises liability is the liability for a landowner or property management company for certain torts that occur on the real property.  In many states, a judge will give the jury an instruction at the end of the case, when all the evidence has been submitted for their consideration, that goes something like this:

• a landowner has a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of persons reasonably expected to be on the premises, and that duty includes an obligation to protect against the risks of a dangerous condition existing on the premises, provided the landowner knows of, or by the exercise of reasonable care would have discovered, the dangerous condition.

If the landowner or occupier created the dangerous condition or let it exist for a sufficiently long time, they may be liable to the injured person for the damages caused by their negligence.  If you or someone you know has been injured in a slip and fall, trip and fall or other accident caused by a dangerous building or structure, e-mail us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., or call 703-796-9555 today.

Herndon Virginia Mediation, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Lawyer Doug Landau of ABRAMS LANDAU with his latest TRIAL Magazine article

While the ABRAMS LANDAU team prepares every case for trial, our success in Mediation, Arbitration and other forms of “Alternative Dispute Resolution” has resulted in Herndon disability and injury lawyer Doug Landau being asked to write, speak and teach for the State and National trial lawyer associations.  Landau teaches for the “non-profit” organizations committed to helping innocent victims and disabled persons and their families.  Landau is not paid for teaching, writing or lecturing for these groups.  This was his second major article in 2009 for TRIAL magazine, a peer-reviewed journal sent to judges, lawyers and schools around the world.  Herndon’s injury and disability lawyer has been contributing articles to TRIAL since the 1980s.

In addition, Landau was also a presenter at the American Association for Justice’s (AAJ) 2010 winter convention.  The topics discussed at the “Litigation at Sunrise” session, included:

• *Birth Defects Suffered by Children Whose Parents Are Exposed to Chemicals Used in “Clean Rooms” — Frank Verderame, AZ
• Pool Safety: Drain Entrapment — Dennis M. Lynch, IL
• How I Learned to Relax and Love Mediation — Douglas K.W. Landau, VA

If you have questions about Mediation, Arbitration and other forms of “Alternative Dispute Resolution,” please contact us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., 703-796-9555

Doug Landau's friend and mentor, Maui lawyer Jim Krueger, and "Sheffield"

Whenever Franklin Farms injury and disability lawyer Doug Landau travels to teach and learn at state, national and international trial lawyers meetings, he makes it a point to meet with top lawyers from all over the world to exchange ideas on how to help injured and disabled clients.  One of the best is Landau’s friend, mentor and Masters swimming champion Jim Krueger of Maui.  Krueger’s firm

has successfully handled cases involving Ocean, Boats and Pools that have caused death, spinal and other serious injuries resulting from (more…)

Fairfax, Loudoun and Leesburg injury lawyer Doug Landau’s speech, “How I learned to relax and love mediation,” for the American Association for Justice (”AAJ”) was well received, as was his article in TRIAL Magazine.  In his presentation, Herndon’s Lawyer Landau discussed how to use Mediation in brain injury, slip and fall, dog attack, car crash, and premises liability cases.  One review of his article in the peer-reviewed trial lawyer publication reads as follows:
DOUGLAS LANDAU, p.40    TRIAL Magazine.
Mediation can be a blessing in disguise. In fact, depending on your jurisdiction, the results can be better than what you might get at trial. An experienced trial lawyer describes three cases where mediation led to unexpected benefits and exceeded everyone’s expectations—especially his own.

A buck totals a Mercedes Benz limousine on its way back to Clarke County, Virginia.  Winchester injury and animal accident attorney Doug Landau recovered for his client, the limo driver, after careful examination of the evidence necessary to prove the case.  As stated yesterday, Northern Virginia crash injury lawyer Doug Landau advises that in many cases the facts are such that negligence, fault (or “failure to exercise ordinary care under the circumstances”) can not be established after a crash with a deer or other animal in the road.

However, there are two areas to examine: the speed of the striking vehicle and avoidance. Here are examples of how Robson Forensic , an engineering firm that has been retained by ABRAMS LANDAU in past cases, has helped to establish liability in these areas:

1. The front of a car hit a deer. The deer then hit the windshield or roof line of the striking car, vaulted over the roof and came down on the top of a passing pickup, injuring the pickup driver. The roof of the pickup was collapsed down and the columns supporting the roof were buckled. To do that damage to the pickup the deer had to have fallen a few feet onto the pickup roof, and thus was lofted into the air by the striking car. The speed limit was 30 mph. The car had to have been greatly exceeding the speed limit to have lofted the deer into the air. The car exceeding the speed limit caused the injury to the pickup driver.
2. A car hit a deer and the passenger was injured. The point of impact was established by the driver and police at the site. In his deposition, the driver said “I came over the hill crest and saw the deer…” We went to the site, determined the sight distance from the hill crest to the point of impact with the deer. The driver had far more than enough time to have controlled the situation. The driver’s failure to control his approach speed caused the injury to his passenger.

The Crash Reconstruction Practice Group at Robson Forensic is well equipped to investigate all varieties of crashes (Crash Practice Group Leader, Peter Leiss, direct 800.813.6736). Our experts include Vehicle Engineers for cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and recreational vehicles. Robson Forensic also has experts in highway engineering, human factors, biomechanics, and many other related disciplines and has assisted ABRAMS LANDAU in cases involving scalding burns, premises liability, hotel, motel and resort negligence.  If you or someone you know has been injured in a crash or car accident caused all, or in part, by a deer or other animal, please contact us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., 703-796-9555

Herndon and Sterling Virginia lawyer Douglas Landau notes that the Workers Compensation Commission requires consistent Marketing for light work by injured workers even in a "down economy."

According to Herndon and Sterling Virginia workers compensation lawyer Doug Landau, marketing residual physical abilities is critical to the receipt of benefits after a “light duty work” release.  However, many ABRAMS LANDAU clients suggest that this is an exercise in futility in light of recent economic trends.

The Herndon Connection newspaper article by Julia O’Donahue’s 12/15/2009 at p.11, noted Fairfax County’s unemployment rate reached 4.7 percent in September, approximately 1.8 percent higher than it was during the same month a year earlier.  During August, the number of jobs in Northern Virginia declined by 13,000, approximately 1 percent, overall. It was the region’s 10th straight month of job losses, though Northern Virginia still has the lowest jobless rate in the Commonwealth, at 4.9 percent overall. In September, Virginia, with the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the county, was 6.6 percent.  While Fairfax’s economy remains strong when compared to other parts of the country, the county’s jobless rate never exceeded four percent during its previous two economic downturns, according to budget documents. Fairfax County unemployment insurance claims also increased 116 percent from July 2008 to July 2009.

Lawyer Landau maintains that despite these dismal economic numbers, injured workers must still show regular, recorded efforts of marketing.  Failure to demonstrate consistent efforts to look for selective duty employment can result in a suspension or termination of weekly wage loss benefits.  If you or someone you know has been injured at work and has questions about marketing, light duty work obligations or their weekly wage loss benefits, e-mail us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., or call 703-796-9555 today.