Landau Injury Law

I have been working with Tampa attorney Tom Young on cases of mutual interest. He has also helped to found InjuryBoard, which is a network of lawyers committed to combating tort reform and those who would take away the rights of individuals to get a fair trial in this country.

InjuryBoard is a growing community of attorneys, media professionals, safety industry experts, and local activists, committed to making a difference by helping families stay safe and avoid injury, and helping those who are injured get the assistance they need to move on with their lives after an accident.

InjuryBoard has “Help Centers” that are an online collection of the best information, professional opinion, and practical advice to help you and your family stay safe and avoid accidents. If you or a loved one are injured, the Help Centers will help (more…)

ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. successfully represented a golf professional injured when the golf cart in which he was a passenger rolled over. The number of people hurt in golf carts has more than doubled, researchers say. Part of the problem is that the carts are faster than they used to be. But they are also being used in ways they were not necessarily intended for and are carrying more and more people with the rising costs of gas and the spread of “cart friendly” retirement and other communities. Writing in the July issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the researchers said that from 1990 to 2006, the injury rate had doubled. The lead author was Daniel S. Watson of Ohio State University and the findings were picked up in the July issue of the Insurance Journal.

Over the period studied, the researchers counted injuries in almost 150,000 people ages two months to 96 years. The study found that many of the injuries were caused by falls, which can occur at speeds as low as 11 miles per hour when the cart turns. It was pointed out that newer carts can hit 25 mph. They often lack safety equipment, according to a co-author of the study, Tracy J. Mehan, a researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. For example, the majority of the carts in use do not have seat belts. A lack of front brakes makes the vehicles prone to fishtail, the study said. In addition to being injured by falling out, riders are hurt when the carts turn over, as was the case of our Virginia client, whose arm was fractured at a famous Maryland golf course. SEE The Athletes Lawyer site for more.

In addition to comparing notes with attorneys from all over the world, Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau gets to meet up with counsel closer to home. Shown here at the Exhibition Hall of the Annual American Association for Justice Meeting are Doug Landau of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., Steve Garver of Reston and Barbara Williams of Leesburg. These are excellent lawyers, lecturers and friends. Garver sometimes sits as a substitute Judge in Leesburg and Fairfax Counties. He also sponsors the annual running race at the Virginia Trial Lawyers Meeting each Spring.  Garver is counsel in the companion case presently up on appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals where his client got a Judgment of $15,000,000 and Landau’s client received $21,000,000, against a negligent driver with limited insurance.

I am just plain curious sometimes. I had competed in Israel, raised money for less fortunate athletes from all over the world and corresponded and spoke to the people at the Headquarters of MaccabiUSA Sports for Israel, but as is the case when I visit Courts, carriers and clients, I like to “see things for myself.”

So, I went to visit the HQ Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel office. Here we are, Ami Monson, Program Director, Jed Margolis executive director, and Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau, 17th Maccabiah Triathlon Age Group Gold Medalist Gold Medalist and Half Marathoner. Margolis and Monson have worked diligently to facilitate using sports as a vehicle to strengthen Jewish identity and Jewish pride (more…)

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).

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…)