Landau Injury Law

Spinal Cord Stimulation (”SCS”) has been shown to be an effective treatment modality for some people who have unremitting, chronic back pain as the result of a car crash, scaffold fall and other trauma to the spine. SCS is a covered benefit under Medicare and other governmental health care programs, and most Workers’ Compensation programs in the U.S. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provided national coverage for SCS after determining that the therapy met the agency’s stringent requirements for medical necessity. The US Military Health System also covers SCS for active and retired military personnel and their families.

Pain management physicians and relevant national medical societies agree that SCS is an appropriate treatment for chronic neuropathic pain patients meeting the following criteria:

• Other treatment modalities have failed or are unsuitable or contraindicated;
• The patient has undergone careful screening, evaluation, and diagnosis by a
multidisciplinary team; and
• The patient demonstrates adequate pain relief in a clinically appropriate screening
trial.

According to the Position Statement of the American Academy of Pain Medicine: SCS is a safe, effective, and widely accepted therapy covered by a wide range of public and private payers. It is critical that patients with chronic, intractable pain have access to SCS because, for appropriate candidates, no other treatment options exist, and their condition is often partially or completely disabling. SCS provides a means to relieve pain, restore function, and improve the quality of life for these patients.

Doug Landau traveled down to Georgia in order to visit the Defendant’s headquarters and take depositions on behalf of a Truck Driver who was crushed in a workplace accident. The ABRAMS LANDAU team associated with local counsel for both the workers compensation and the third party liability (negligence) cases. With the help of Atlanta trial lawyer Brian Buckelew, Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau was able to get the client weekly wage loss benefits through the Georgia Workers Comp statute. .

While Buckelew, of Clemons & Sweet, had his leg in a cast from a serious injury, he was nevertheless able to get the injured trucker’s medical bills covered and secure a helpful vocational expert’s report for use in the tort claim as well. Shown here are Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau and Brian Buckelew at the law offices of Clements & Sweet, located across from the Fulton County Courthouse, in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

In personal injury cases, if the car crash, dog attack or injury residuals results in your being unable to perform your job, your second job, your seasonal work or even your weekend job, these losses can all be combined in the claim for compensation and jury trial.  There is no requirement that they be similar kinds of work or that they be done in the weeks leading up to the accidental injury.

In Social Security Disability Income cases, the Federal government adds up your earnings from ALL sources, regardless of their similarity, or even their having been performed close in time to the date of onset of the disabling medical condition.

Lastly, in workplace injury cases, the Virginia Workers Compensation law provides that the wages from “similar employment” can be combined.  The Virginia Court of Appeals has stated that, “When an injured employee is disabled from performing his employment duties, the employee’s earnings include the earnings from two or more jobs that are substantially similar.”  In determining whether two employments are substantially similar, the Commission considers each job’s particular duties and general nature.  In addition to determining whether the jobs involve the overlapping of specific duties and skills, the Workers Compensation Commission also looks to the primary mission of both employments.  Shown here with injury lawyer Doug Landau is an ABRAMS LANDAU client at our Herndon, Virginia office building, with her settlement check, which included her wage loss from both the job where she injured her cervical spine AND her SECOND JOB as well.

This was the question posed by a damaged disc injury victim before retaining experienced leesburg lawyer Doug Landau. While it is a good idea to get the property damage and car repairs taken care of right away, the injuries from a car crash or dog attack can take months to heal.

Nevertheless, retaining a lawyer to protect your interests is important, and the earlier, the better. In many cases, an experienced lawyer can make sure the liability investigation is performed in a timely fashion, records are preserved and evidence is not destroyed. Trial lawyers can help with coordination of benefits and collection of medical and other records of losses such that insurance reserves can be adequately set. At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. we protect our clients from inquisitive adjusters and investigators, and being taken advantage of by the insurance companies. Plus, insurance representatives can stall so that the injured victim’s are bamboozled and their claim is time-barred. Our law office educates clients as to their rights, monitors their claims and medical care, and helps them conclude their injury claims in a timely fashion. In fact, we will often decline to represent injured persons who come to us long after their car crash, dog attack or other accidental injury because many prejudicial actions may have already taken place. Just as a master builder prefers to build their own sturdy foundation, our law firm prefers to start the case at the beginning, not at the end. No matter how good a lawyer may be or how much time, effort and personnel they commit to a case, if the case’s was not properly begun and its foundation is”shaky,” then the end result may not meet with the client’s expectations.

While the Virginia Workers Compensation law is a “no fault” system, such that negligence or clumsiness does not matter, according to Herndon Reston area injury and disability lawyer Doug Landau of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., there are three instances where the injured worker can still lose.
Where a worker is injured or killed because they were drunk, stoned or willfully violated a known safety rule and that the safety rule was strictly enforced, the judge will rule in favor of the employer and their insurance company. To prevail on the defense of a willful violation of a safety rule, the employer must prove that:

(1) the safety rule was reasonable;
(2) the rule was known to the employee;
(3) the rule was for the benefit of the employee; and
(4) the employee intentionally undertook the forbidden act.

If the employer carries its burden of proof by showing that the employee knew of the rule and intentionally violated it, the court will find (more…)

With those words, I was told by the Supreme Court of Virginia that they would not award benefits for my client, who was dying of berylliosis. He had worked on rocket propellent experiments in Alexandria for much of his 38 year career with Atlantic Research, and of the 20 other men who did this kind of work, he was the only one still alive.

This disabled man came to ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. when he lost feeling in his extremities and became short of breath, and we filed the workers compensation claim less than 6 months after the diagnosis from the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado was received. However, as it had been more than 7 years since his last exposure to the dangerous material, the Virginia Workers Compensation judge dismissed the claim. This Deputy Commissioner sadly told us (more…)

I try to review a client’s official file at the VWC early on in the case. I do that because at ABRAMS LANDAU, we want to build a strong foundation to the claim. Too many lawyers make the mistake of assuming they know what the judge is looking at or looking for - a BIG MISTAKE ! I take the time to actually examine the file the judge will be looking at, well before the trial, so that I know (and can explain to the client) what evidence is available and what is still needed. Here I am with one of the helpful clerks at the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission headquarters in Richmond. I was reviewing our injured and disabled clients’ files and making copies of important documents, such as the Accident Report, the Wage Chart and the Attending Physician’s Report. When I return to Herndon, the staff at the ABRAMS LANDAU injury law firm knows to send copies to our disabled clients and their families so that they can see what the judge is actually looking at, and give us prompt information about errors in the official accident reports, earnings records and other important documents.

Why is this important ? One reason I like to look at the official file is to learn things that my clients may not have told me, because of the severity of their brain injuries; because it is a fatal accident claim; because there may have been a loss of consciousness; long term memory loss and short term memory loss, which is not unusual after head trauma. Because we are all human and we all make mistakes, sometimes the material we field with the VWC is put in the wrong file. Also, I have seen other injured workers’ papers accidentally put in my clients’ files. My review of the official workers comp files has also revealed surveillance tapes and reports by private investigators who were hired by the insurance companies or their lawyers to follow and film my disabled clients. By actually looking at the official file, I am able to see if the VWC staff has tabbed, hi-lighted or flagged those items that the ABRAMS LANDAU Team has brought to their attention as needing immediate action. So, the next time my staff advises you that I am “on the road” and visiting the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission headquarters to review files, I am doing so to lay a sturdy foundation for the disabled clients of our Herndon Reston area injury law firm.

When Workers Compensation claims are filed by the team at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., they are sent to the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission Commission (”VWC”) headquarters in Richmond. The VWC headquarters has the Clerk’s Office, paper files, offices for a number of the judges (called “Deputy Commissioners”) and Hearing rooms. Shown here is the infamous “Sponge Bob-Mobile” used by Doug Landau to transport clients and files through all sorts of weather in front of the VWC HQ building at 1000 DMV Drive, off Broad Street, in Richmond.
This building is just East of the Science Museum and across the street from the Division of Motor Vehicles (”DMV”) building, which is pictured below. For those with Hearings at the VWC headquarters, or reviewing files, the DMV has a convenient, handicap accessible and inexpensive cafeteria. Doug Landau has had lunch with Deputy Commissioners and claims personnel there and it is one of the few places within walking distance.

On the 12th of August, 2008, Mr. George Milton Piper passed away. We still do not know the exact details of his untimely demise. We do know he was at work, at Chemung Contracting in Gainesville, located at 7201 Rail Line Court - near George Mason University, off of University Blvd. At the time, he was working for Labor Ready. Though there isn’t more information, you can read the report on WTOP news. If anyone has any information concerning his accident, please contact us so that we may better help his family.

When four generations of women came to my office seeking help for an innocent child being raised by her grandparents, none of imagined that the little girl would receive tax free payments for almost a decade.  The case arose as the result of the accidental death of a boom truck worker.  The basket on the truck accidentally touched a power line while the employee was making a call from a phone booth.  He saw the tires on his truck melting and ran to get the fire extinguisher as smoke was coming from the truck.  Once he touched  the metal cannister he was immediately electrified.  The voltage killed the employee almost instantly. The deceased employee left behind a daughter, who was being raised by her maternal grandparents, as her own mother was only a teenager herself.  While the decedent had never married the child’s mother, there was a Child Support Order.  The claim was denied by the insurance company.  I brought the Chiefs of the Police, Fire and Rescue Departments to Court to testify.  We won the case and several hundred thousand dollars in compensation benefits were paid to the grandparents so that they could enlarge their home and pay for their granddaughter’s education and care.  At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. we try to make a happier ending on stories that come to us after tragedy.