Landau Injury Law

The “Voices of September 11th”, has created a “9/11 Living Memorial” website where anyone can post their memories of people they knew or what they personally experienced on that tragic day.

The website was set up so that that mankind, hundreds of years from now, will be able to learn about and research all of the events surrounding that day. A similar memorial was recently set up for the few remaining Holocaust Survivors to post their memories. Most of the personal stories about what occurred in Europe during that time were never preserved publicly and are lost forever. The memorial will insure that the same thing does not happen to 9/11.

Postings are not limited to family members or people who were at the Trade Center, Pentagon or on the aircraft. It is open to anyone who has something meaningful to contribute. You can post remembrances of someone you loved, knew or just knew of. In the DC Metropolitan area almost everyone of us knew someone or a relative of someone who either was killed or injured. At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we came to know many more through our representation of the families of those who died in the course of their work in the fatal airplane crashes. While we were successful in ensuring that all of the families and survivors got their compensation benefits provided under state law, no amount of money will ever erase the memories and the sorrow.

Please go to the Living Memorial website and post your comments, photographs, recordings etc. www.911livingmemorial.org/

This is your opportunity to have your memories become a part of history.

In addition to Captain Heidenberger, Doug Landau was also contacted by the widow of the Captain of Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon.   The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer was able to get her workers compensation benefits as the result of the infamous fatal crash on 9/11.  Even though she has left her home in Virginia after being hounded by the press,, she continues to receive weekly benefits

This widow was also a former flight attendant and friend of the Heidenbergers.  In 2006, Heidenberger approached her with an idea—a 33-day, cross-country bicycle ride to commemorate the 33 airline workers who died on 9/11.  This long-distance bike ride would also raise money for the memorial.  She rode the RV while the Captain and several others rode their bikes across the country.  The Airline Ride Across America raised $200,000. This magnanimous widower decided to divide the money equally among three memorial funds—those for United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon—in recognition of the even-handedness fate revealed on that day: “It knew no ethnicity or age or gender—everyone was equal,” Heidenberger said in a magazine interview. http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/dec2007/dec1.php  Doug Landau salutes these clients’ efforts and wishes them success  in raising funds, and awareness, for the memorials and the sacrifices made by their co-workers in the airline industry.
For information about making a donation to the Pentagon Memorial Fund please go to www.pentagonmemorial.net.

Doug Landau and the staff at Abrams Landau are fortunate to have been asked to help the families of those whose lives were taken on 9/11. One such person is Pilot Tom Heidenberger. His wife was a flight attendant on Flight 77 that went into the Pentagon. Doug Landau was impressed with Tom and the importance looking out for his kids was to him in the years following this tragedy. The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer was able to secure an Award from the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission that provided payments to Tom and his late wife’s children.

Also important to Captain Heidenberger is to make sure that other Flight 77 victims are not forgotten. He has been a member of the Pentagon Memorial Fund steering committee. Heidenberger fears that the 33 employees of United Airlines and American Airlines who lost their lives on 9/11 are being forgotten. “People remember the policemen and the firemen, but the 33 crew members were the first responders,” he says. “They fought with the hijackers to take back the airplanes. The flight attendants did what they were trained to do in reassuring the passengers, even though they most likely knew the end was near.” He hatched an idea to help fund the memorials for the victims of the attacks. See tomorrow’s post for part II

Yesterday I introduced the true story of our client who was killed by a falling girder at the Pentagon.  We won an Award from the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission for benefits as the result of this fatal accident.  Funeral and burial expenses were paid and weekly benefits were paid to his teenaged daughter in Colorado.  However, the deceased worker left behind a baby who was born 3 months later !

This tragic case was brought in Fairfax by the Herndon Reston area injury firm Abrams Landau, and the judge’s ruling correctly granted benefits to BOTH of this worker’s daughters.  The older daughter received the full workers compensation benefit until her step-sister was born, at which time they each would receive half of the weekly payment.  Then, when the older sister turned 18, her share would end, unless she was in college or some other full time educational program.  The baby daughter has received over $110,000, and continues to receive checks as the result of the death of the father she never knew.  This is another of the many tragic true stories from that fateful day that touched all of us at Abrams Landau, Ltd.

After the devastating attacks of 9/11, a crack team of welders and construction workers was brought in from all over the country to repair the damage to the Pentagon. In the weeks and months that passed as the rubble was cleared and the repairs begun, the true extent of the attack was revealed. But the injuries and deaths did not stop in September of 2001. Abrams Landau was contacted by a Colorado family looking for help with a workers compensation claim.

This young man was killed during a construction accident at the Pentagon on March 28, 2002 while under the employ of BirdAir. A girder caused a sling to give way, causing multiple blunt injuries that caused his death at George Washington University Hospital. Under Virginia law, his ex-wife was not entitled to benefits. However, Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau was able to get his surviving daughter weekly compensation. These checks have totaled over $115,000 and continue today. The judge ruled that she was entitled to benefits as long as she was a minor. She would be eligible for additional benefits if she enrolled in a full time educational institution, which she has done. While Abrams Landau has helped pilot, flight attendant, passenger and other families affected by the 9/11 tragedy, this case drives home the fact that people were physically harmed long after the planes crashed and the fires were put out. As is his custom, Mr. Landau asks for pictures of the family. In his file is a picture of this (then) 14-year-old girl and her father and the words, “MY HERO.” See tomorrow’s post for part II of this incredible story – his unborn daughter.

This week, I will be devoting the space on this site to the clients whose loved ones were taken by the terrorists on 9/11.  Abrams Landau, Ltd. was asked to help some wonderful families whose lives were devastated by the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.  Our law shop in Herndon, Virginia has been able to ensure that these families recovered compensation without long, drawn out litigation or unnecessary and invasive  press coverage.
We all remember what we were doing that day.  I was trying a workers compensation claim in Alexandria, Virginia.  The judge announced that we had to evacuate.  I got in my car and started to drive to Richmond, where the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission had its annual seminar for lawyers and claims personnel.  I have taught on that program and was excited to be going to the State Capitol to learn the latest from the judges and administrators.  However, when I got to the seminar site, large screens were up so we could follow the terrible news.   What follows are true stories of Abrams Landau 9/11 clients and their families…

The Workers’ Compensation Act (§ 65.2-603) provides that, if medically necessary, the employer may be required to furnish durable medical equipment and modification of the employee’s home for handicap accessibility up to $25,000.

A former employee of DRS-DDS (the Department of Rehabilitation Services and the Department of Disability Services) sustained an injury to her lumbar spine. This injury to her back caused her to lose the use of her legs. Doug Landau won her case in Court and she has been receiving disability checks. She was finally provided pull bars for the bathrooms in her home, a lift chair, a power wheelchair, portable ramps for handicap accessibility to her home and vehicle and there is a pending Order from the Commission for a hydraulic wheelchair lift for her SUV after a decade of litigation in her comp claim. The letter to the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission indicating the benefits Mr. Landau won for this client most recently is attached.

In another case being handled by the Herndon Reston area injury firm of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., the Workers Compensaion Insurance Company paid for home modifications for a young man residing with his mother in Orange County, VA. This client had sustained a traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones as the result of a fall from a bridge construction project in Fauquier County. As the result of Doug Landau and Dianna Meredith’s unremitting efforts over the last 14 years, the insurance company paid a contractor to widen the doorways, install an entrance ramp, shower chair, handrails for the shower and commode, handicap commode, and a handicap accessible shower stall.

Although the plaintiff walked away from a fender-bender automobile accident with relatively minor injuries and no apparent head trauma, his family knew in the months following the crash that something was wrong. When the family’s attorneys took what they thought was a relatively simple case and started talking to doctors, they discovered the matter was more complicated: They would have to show that David suffered brain trauma even though it was a minor collision with no loss of consciousness or direct head injuries. Relying on the family’s truthfulness, the attorneys were able to (more…)

While the Virginia Court system is one of the fastest in the country, and our local Federal Court has the nickname “The Rocket Docket” because of its speed, other courts and cases can take many years to resolve. The recent death of a University of Central Florida football player could lead to a lengthy legal battle. As the player is deceased, the family can try to pursue what is called a “wrongful death” case. In this instance, the parents of the player may pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the school. An 8/17/2008 Orlando Sentinel article by Iliana Limón noted that, “lawsuits stemming from similar practice-related deaths have taken years to resolve and the families of some victims are still awaiting closure. Sovereign immunity statutes and university politics and make-up can present significant legal obstacles to lawsuits involving athletic-related deaths.” The Sentinel article noted out that in another football practice related death, the cases had taken 7 years and was still being fought by the dead player’s family.

The Virginia Workers Compensation Statute says the rehab personnel (as well as insurance adjusters) are entitled to “copies” of medical reports.  “Copies” does not include verbal reports.  It is Doug Landau’s position that they have no right to speak to the doctor, the nurses or the doctors’ staff.  Yet the insurance company people try to do it ALL THE TIME !  And, if you let them do it, they will use this “off the record” contact against you, your case and your family.

That having been said, most doctors have been brain washed into believing that they have to talk to insurance representatives, including rehabilitation personnel.  Talk to your doctors.  Your treating specialists, your family doctor and all health care personnel you see in conjunction with you case.  Tell them you DO NOT WANT THEM TALKING with anyone from the insurance company.  They can get copies of reports of your treatment for the workers comp injury, and the bills related to your care.  BUT, conversations outside your presence are NOT OK !