Landau Injury Law

When a personal injury case settles, the Insurance Company wants a Release to be signed before the check is cashed so that they (and their insureds) will not get sued again on the same claim.  When a case is filed in Court, and a settlement reached or verdict in favor of the injured plaintiff returned, the Court wants a “Final Order” signed showing that the case is resolved and can be dismissed from the active Trial or Hearing calendar.  Many clients wonder, if the “Final Order” ends the case, why does the Insurance Company and its lawyers want signatures on a separate (and seemingly superfluous) “Release” ?

One reason the lawyers for the Defendants in Product Liability, Negligence, Defective Products and Food, Slip and Fall, Children’s cases, Sports Accident, Brain Trauma, and other types of Personal Injury claims, want this Release, is that

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A rash of broken baseball bats in big-league ballgames has some crying foul about the safety of players, coaches and fans. In one case, a woman at a Los Angeles Dodgers game was struck in the face with a piece of a broken bat and suffered a broken jaw. At least one batmaker says some companies are producing substandard bats that are more likely to shatter and endanger unsuspecting onlookers.  For more on this timely subject, read Jim Armstrong’s article in the Denver Post, 07/21/2008

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…)

First, just like Herndon Reston injury lawyer Doug Landau, Life Care Planners have to read the medical records.  This is not easy.  Not only do some doctors have handwriting that would be impossible for an FBI expert to decipher, but in a traumatic brain injury case, spinal cord injury or paralysis claim, these records are often many hundreds of pages long !  And you cannot just “skim” or “speed read” them, because important information for the life care planner is often found in the details, the nurses’ notes and the abbreviations and test results.

The Life Care Planner uses a standard process to identify the recommendations, including those made by the treating physicians, regarding the medical equipment, services, and treatment required by the patient to promote good health, prevent deterioration and encourage independence. This is not simply a chart to provide minimal assistance, but a flow chart to prevent atrophy from disuse, deterioration and the patient from becoming decrepit.  Through this process the Life Care Planner also identifies the cost, frequency and purpose of the treatments, examinations, therapy modalities and equipment upkeep and replacement. Vendors assist to determine the yearly cost of the item, and a projected life expectancy is utilized to provide costs in today’s dollar amount. The Virginia Code has a Life Expectancy chart (found at Va. Code 8.01-419), and major insurance carriers likewise have charts showing expected duration of life at different given ages.  At ABRAMS LANDAU we will then bring in an economist to evaluate and give us a range of figures for the plan with cost of living variables.

Life care plans can be developed by a variety of health care professionals.  At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we will engage the services of experts with medical backgrounds, especially in the long term care of patients with permanent disability, brain injury, mental handicap, spinal cord injury and paralysis.

Registered nurses, legal nurse consultants and certified vocational counselors are the most common professionals who seek certification as life care planners.  Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau has had teams work up a Life Care Plan, and often, after the medical experts reach a consensus, he will hire an economics expert to calculate present value and income stream needs.  In other words, the treating health care providers records and input will be carefully studied.  Then, the certified life care planner will put together the information from the treating sources together with predicted needs, costs and frequencies.  The economics expert will then take these figures and extrapolate lifetime costs, present value and the income necessary to provide for these lifetime medical expenditures.  One of the reasons that trials in traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and permanent disability cases takes so long is that each of these experts must be qualified to the satisfaction of the court, then given an opportunity to explain the foundations for their work, and then and only then, can they give their opinions “to within a reasonable degree of certainty.”

Driving down to Fredericksburg, past the Courthouse where many serious injury cases have been won, Doug Landau could not help but notice the temperature rising to record levels.  Nevertheless, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer performs well in high heat and humidity.  He was confident, having won the Biathlon (Swim-Run) at the Spotsylvania YMCA 2 years ago.  And the Reston Herndon injury lawyer was excited to be biking on Route 1, Jefferson Davis Highway.  After a slow pool swim, Landau picked off competitors and arrived with a screeching transition for the run through the woods and bog.  Doug was able to finish first in the Masters category, second among the men and third overall. Landau noted that the 2 competitors ahead of him had a combined age of less than his 47 years !  He enjoyed biking past the Spotsylvania Circuit Court house, where he has tried personal injury and workers compensation cases over the last 25 years.  .More exciting than collecting his awards, Landau enjoyed helping 7-year-old “Racin’ Mason” Allen to race in her first triathlon.  This wonderful Fredericksburg girl had just had her first swim practice this week.  Her father, Edward Allen of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, purchased her pink bicycle the day before the race !  Mason swam with a smile, and finished in style.  

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).

Doug Landau, shown here with long-time Reston Triathlon Board Member Chuck James, volunteered at the 2nd annual Reston Sprint Triathlon at Lake Newport Pool.  The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer helped get athletes registered on Saturday.  Raising thousands of dollars for Reston Interfaith made the effort rewarding on many levels.  Doug will be racing tomorrow in this event which sold out in one day !  Multisport events are popular in Northern Virginia, and the race will be staffed by the wonderful people at Set Up Events.  The race is also part of the Virginia Triathlon Series (”VTS”), where racers get points that are tallied at the end of the season to determine overall winners.  Last year, Triathlon Trial Lawyer Doug Landau and 2 of his training buddies each won their age group at this race, and went on to win prizes in the overall series.  Doug races in the competitive 45-49 group, and winning the series last year gives him no guarantees going into his first VTS race of 2008.