Landau Injury Law

            Even if the claimant’s doctor has not released him/her to go back to work, Doug Landau counsels his clients to put effort into job searching that may fit their current restrictions.   If they do not find employment, there is at least a written record of their efforts as evidence that the injured worker is not malingering, but would seriously like to work.  Waiting for the employer to accept the claimant back to work is not necessarily the best result for the claimant.  ABRAMS LANDAU clients who have sustained permanent arm, leg or head injuries may not ever be able to go back to their old jobs.  BUT, there are other, easier, “light duty jobs,” that they can do.  The Virginia Workers Compensation Commission sometimes calls these jobs “selective duty positions.”  Whether the injured worker has had a broken leg or a brain injury, the Commission will often look to see what efforts they have made to look for light work that they CAN do.  Failure to even look can serve as the basis for an insurance company terminating benefits.

            The recent case of  John Quinn Inc. v. Barry   is an example of what is expected and the law in Virginia.  At the time of his accident, an injured employee was working two jobs, one of which was a part-time job at Home Depot.   The claimant could not return to his pre-injury work with his primary employer or any with any manufacturing or construction position.  The claimant accepted a full-time position with Home Depot where his work activities were limited as a result of his injury.  The Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the Commission Award of TPD because the Court was not convinced that the claimant’s acceptance of the full-time position with Home Depot constituted adequate marketing of his residual capacity.  The Court determined that the claimant failed to meet his burden of proof. 

See: John Quinn Inc. v. Barry (Frank, J.)Virginia Court of Appeals No. 2229-07-2, July 15, 2008, Virginia Lawyers Weekly 008-7-333(UP),9pp 

Yes, possibly.  The first step in any workers compensation claim is to determine if you were injured “in the course and scope of employment.”  If you were injured on the job, the next step is to figure out how much your employer paid you every week.  Because many undocumented workers are paid “under the table,” or on a cash basis, proving how much your employer paid you every week may be difficult.  This is important because many of your compensation benefits depend on how much you were making before you got injured.   Your “average weekly wage” rate affects how much you get for lost wages, permanent injury to your body and the size of your settlement or Court Award.

Proving what your employer paid you in cash might be a difficult task, but with the help of the ABRAMS LANDAU team, the process can be smoother.  In order to prove how much employers have paid undocumented workers in the past, the ABRAMS LANDAU law firm in Herndon, Virginia has used a variety of successful techniques like examining bank deposit statements, receipts from remittances, eye witness accounts, and receipts from other money transfer services.  It is best to have is a “paper trail” of the payments you received.    

Additionally, the ABRAMS LANDAU team will help you factor whether you were provided uniforms, meals, lodging or transportation.  This usually increases the amount of money Herndon attorney Doug Landau gets for his clients.  Proving exactly how much the employer paid you every week will determine how much money you receive while you are not working-money that will help you and your family survive while you are recovering from your injuries.  

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  

Here’s a first.  A closed head auto injury case client represented by another member of AAJ was once incarcerated in Connecticut.  He was a former inmate of the Conn Department of Corrections and was involved in an accident in Florida.  The State of Connecticut now asserts a “lien” (like an “I.O.U.”) for all costs of his incarceration pursuant to Section 18-85a & b, Conn. General Statutes. While Herndon Reston injury lawyer Doug Landau has represented clients who are in jail while their personal injury and workers comp claims are pending, he has never heard of such a State Government “lien” before.  Please note that Child Support can also be taken out of Workers Comp checks, unlike nearly any other kind of lien, garnishment, debt or judgement.  The Moral of this Post:  Tell Yer Lawyer About ALL your debts, crimes, injuries, claims and court history.

Here are pictures of the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission’s Fairfax Office.  Summer Intern Shiri Ahronovich, a rising William & Mary Senior, is shown here in the Hearing room where testimony is taken.  

 Note the microphones and that there are two chairs at counsel table so that Doug Landau’s clients can sit next to him when they are not actually testifying.  Ms. Ahronovich is also shown in the “witness conference room,” where Mr. Landau meets with clients before the Hearing begins, as well as the vestibule.  In the “witness conference room,” copies of important documents from our clients’ OFFICIAL FILES are made, so that they can see what evidence the judge will be looking at in their cases.  

  We publish these pictures so that clients, their families and potential clients can see where to observe us “in action !”

Businesses could save between $114,000 and $670,000 per claim by settling lawsuits early rather than mounting an extensive defense, a study of personal injury settlements has found. According to the study, which analyzed court settlements of personal injury and defective product injury cases against companies between 1988 and 2004 in Texas and Florida, early settlement offers reduce legal fees and non-economic damages.  Doug Landau resolved several Florida cases for clients in the last year, and notes that there is a trend toward defense lawyers billing for depositions, written discovery, protracted motions and expert retention before there is any serious discussion of settlement.  Especially with the downturn in the economy, the insurance carriers are holding on to their reserves until the last possible moment. The of business cost savings study was published in the Columbia Business Law Review.  Sheri Qualters, Law.com  06/09/2008 also at: Law.com

When one thinks of filing appeal briefs, the image of piles of paper comes to mind.  However, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is now moving towards electronic filings and documents.  Lauren Holtzman and I have received “electronic case filing” (”ECF”) training at the United States District  Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria.  With the new changes going into effect this month, we are learning along with everyone else who appears before this Federal Court which hears appeals from Virginia and the other courts located within its “circuit.”   Unlike the trial of this catastrophic brain injury and paralysis case, several judges will decide the appeal.  These specially trained and experienced appeals judges will not hear from live witnesses to this devastating car and cycle crash, nor would they learn from the live testimony of the various medical, economics and life care planning experts.  The judges of the Fourth Circuit will review the briefs of the parties and then decide whether to affirm the trial judge’s rulings, reverse or remand for further proceedings.

Injured clients ask why there are microphones at comp hearings.  The rooms are generally small, and everyone can hear each other just fine.  The mikes are not to amplify the voices.  Rather, the microphones are for recording the trial so that if later one party or the other wants to appeal, they can have a transcript typed up so that the Commission (and perhaps the VIrginia Court of Appeals or even the Supreme Court of Virginia) can see what everybody said on the record.  There are no “live” court reporters at Virginia comp hearings, like there are at jury trials Doug Landau has presented.  However, recent cases involving fractured legs, arms, hands, concussions and brain injury that we have won for injured workers have been appealed, and that means that the Full Commission must have the tape recorded proceedings typed up and each side must pay for a copy.   Shown here is a witness about to testify in front of the microphone at a Virginia Workers Compensation Commission hearing that arose as the result of a traffic accident fatality in Fairfax County.

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.  

In yesterday’s post, we looked at the case of the disabled truck driver and the sworn testimony of the Federal Government’s hired professional witness.  Today, we look at the types of questions I use to cross examine these experts in order to successfully prove my client’s disability case.
At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we put on evidence that:
1. Our client is unable to perform his previous type of work,
2. Significant limitations impinge on any range of work and eliminate large numbers of occupations a person could otherwise perform,
3. Our client’s present impairments are disabling and have lasted in excess of 12 months,
4. The claimant’s impairments prevent him from engaging in substantial gainful employment, both the types of work he did before and other types of work,
5. This claimant must take unscheduled breaks and will miss  more than 4 days per month according to his own, treating health care providers,
6. The uncontroverted lay (non-expert) testimony shows that others do the: shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc.
7. Claimant does almost nothing around the home,
8. Multiple factors in preclude substantial gainful activity,
9. The judge must consider ALL of the claimant’s impairments in combination, including those that are not severe on their own, when determining whether the P has a severe impairment.  (Pursuant to SSR 85-28, an impairment is “not severe” only where the medical evidence clearly establishes that it has a minimal or non-serious effect on a P’s ability to perform work-related activities),
10. The medical evidence supports a finding of disability, as summarized by the claimant’s treating doctors