Landau Injury Law

Nick Parthemos, Doug Landau & Nate Adams are experienced VTLA Workers Comp lawyers who support proposed legislation creating a "presumption" in brain injury & trauma cases

A “presumption is a legal term which indicates that a judge will “presume” a fact in evidence, unless or until other facts are introduced to show that such evidence is not to be presumed.  For example, in fatal on the job accident cases, if the victim is found at a place, time & manner consistent with his or her work duties, then a “presumption” is created that the manner of death was compensable.  This relieves the claimant’s survivors and their lawyer from having to prove (more…)

The denial of even the limited benefits of workers compensation to severely disabled due to brain injury due to a loophole in Virginia law has several legislators looking to fix the law this session.   House Bill 1475 would help workers injured in unwitnessed accidents who are unable to recall the circumstances of the incident due to head injury, brain trauma and memory loss.  The proposed legislation is in response to the case of Roanoke County resident Mike Gentry, who was denied benefits for more than a year after falling from a roof while installing a satellite dish.  Gentry’s head injury rendered him unable to remember the accident for five months and, because no one saw his fall, his workers’ compensation claim was denied due to lack of evidence according to the Virginia Pilot.

The legislation creates a presumption that such injuries are work-related unless there is “substantial evidence to the contrary.” There also must be medical evidence that the injured worker is physically or mentally unable to testify about the incident.  This remedy would be similar to the rule in fatal on the job accident cases.  In workplace fatality cases, if the victim is found at a place, time and manner consistent with his or her work duties, then a “presumption” is created that the manner of death was compensable.  The employer, their insurance company and lawyers can present evidence to “rebut the presumption,” but the law shifts the “burden of proof” from the survivors to the company.  Likewise, Herndon workers comp lawyer Doug Landau hopes that by shifting the burden of proof from the brain damaged worker to the insurance company, unjust results such as that in the Gentry case will hopefully avoided in the future, and some of the most badly injured workers in Virginia will get the medical care and rehabilitative services they so desperately need.

State Workers Compensation claims are becoming more complex.  In the past, if the insurance company, the employer, the injured worker and their lawyer agreed to a compromise settlement, a Maryland workers compensation judge could approve the settlement and payments would then be made.  Now the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission (WCC) is proposing to make permanent a regulation requiring federal approval of medical set-asides before the state will sign off settlements.  This additional step has been in effect as an emergency rule since Jan. 4, 2010 according to a report in WorkCompCentral in which multi-state comp lawyer Doug Landau of the Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. was interviewed this week.

The proposed regulation will require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to approve all claims that meet the agency’s threshold for review.  Settlements that do not meet the CMS review threshold are required to include a statement confirming that the interests of CMS have been considered and to identify the amount of the proposed settlement that is apportioned for future medical expenses.  CMS requires approval on settlements where the claimant is 65 or older, is a Medicare recipient or has a reasonable expectation of becoming eligible for Medicaid within 30 months and the anticipated total settlement for future medical expenses and disability exceeds $250,000.  The WorkCompCentral article relates. “One of the lessons learned by Doug Landau, an injured workers’ attorney located in Herndon, Virginia, is that CMS approval is a long process.  It takes at least 90 days to get a response, he said.  Landau thinks regulations like the one proposed in Maryland will start popping up throughout the country.”

After the initial impact of a car or truck accident, there is often secondary injuries caused by the rolling of the vehicle and the failure of defective elements within the crash protection structures of the car itself.  Having represented injured car crash victims in car rollover accidents, Herndon injury lawyer Doug Landau has seen the various ways that occupants can be permanently injured due to several overlapping causes, even in single vehicle accidents.

In a car rollover wreck, the Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU has seen:

• Occupant ejections
• Failure to have side airbags
• Defect in the seatbelts
• Glass, window frame and glazing claims
• Failures of the seatbacks
• Roof crush head and neck injuries
• Vehicle Stability systems failure

In short, in many rollover crash cases, there may be more than one defect that causes injury to the occupants.  There may be numerous reasons for additional, unnecessary injury and permanent disability.  If you or someone you know has been injured in a car crash where there has been a rollover, call (703-796-9555) or e-mail ABRAMS LANDAU today so that we can evaluate the product safety issues at once.

For your and your family’s safety, try to answer the following TRUE/FALSE questions:

1. If the cops don’t find any pot in my system, even if my car passengers were getting high on  marijuana, I cannot be arrested.
2. My doctor gave me a prescription, so if I have a bottle of the medicine with my name and my family doctor’s name on the label, I cannot be hassled.
3. Unless I have empty cans or bottles in the car, I cannot get into trouble for underage drinking and driving.
4. Lending my Aderol, Oxycontin or Vicoden to my friend, when he forgot his before our final exam, is “no biggie.”
5. If the friends in my sports car all swear that I did not even have a puff of pot, then I can’t get busted.
6. I am not going to get in trouble for giving one pill from my Aderol bottle to a high school classmate to help them study.

Answers: All are (more…)

One major question that courts look at in determining whether to make social network information discoverable to the insurance defense lawyers is the inured victim website user’s expectation of privacy when that information was posted. Any “public” information that is accessible to any person who happens to click on your profile will almost certainly not be subject to any expectation of privacy, and will likely be discoverable. Even information that is only viewable by the users’ preselected “friends” can potentially lose this valuable expectation of privacy. Therefore, it would be wise for any injured car crash victim using these sites to maximize the privacy settings available to them.

If your social networking pages contain questionable comments, wall posts or photos, you should consider making your profile private to ALL viewers to minimize the risk that this information could be used against you in your injury, workplace accident or disability case.

Furthermore, you should NEVER put anything on these sites that discusses your lawsuit or any injuries (more…)

Some reckless drivers and alcoholics who cause injury and mayhem on our roads are also cowards. They are afraid to face their “day in court,” and either flee the jurisdiction or do not appear at any of the criminal or civil proceedings in connection with their wrongful conduct. In some personal injury car crash cases, the defendant driver is a “no show” for their deposition, discovery and even trial ! This can happen even where the sheriff has properly served the negligent defendant with the lawsuit papers and they are ordered to answer. This happened at a recent trial the ABRAMS LANDAU trial team tried to a jury verdict in Northern Virginia.

In these instances where the defendant does not show up, you and your attorney are at a disadvantage without the defendant present to testify. As a matter of law, witness testimony is considered evidence, and your attorney’s arguments are bound by the evidence presented in court. This means that he or she cannot speculate in closing as to what the defendant would or could have said. However, the defendant’s absence can also work to your advantage, because (more…)

Even in Boarding School there were students whose “illnesses” and requests for “excuse slips” seemed to correspond with major exams.  You may remember the classmate whose illnesses always happened to correspond to test days. There was nothing like an organic chemistry quiz to set his fever to suddenly spike his “symptoms.”  Their strategy goes like this: if you are not ready to face the test, simply crawl back into bed and perhaps take it on another day.

Granted, students with “testday-itis” could not put off the dreaded confrontation forever, but what happens when the habit carries over into adulthood ?  Not everyone is willing to take responsibility for his actions, but most stakes are higher than a math grade after weeks of not studying. For example, if you are injured in an car crash, you expect that the responsible party will be held accountable by the legal system. However, if the other driver decides not to show up on your injury case court date, the consequences (more…)

Who would have thought that cough suppressants and cold medicines would become the new fad drugs for young abusers looking for an easy “high ?”  Just because the cough syrups are sold over the counter (“OTC”) without a doctor’s prescription, it does not mean they are without risks.  At the Landau Law Shop, we recommend that you protect your teenagers from cough suppressants which contain Dextromethorphan (“Dex”).  Dex is the active ingredient in over 120 over the counter cold and cough medicines like Robitussin, Nyquil, Tylenol Cold, etc.  (Hence the term “RoboTripping.”)

The numbers are telling.  A recent survey found that 8% of teens abused these cough suppressants.  The Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) reports that this epidemic has lead to a 70% increase in emergency room visits.  for the years 2004 through 2008.  Over 8,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms as the result of abusing Dex.

Teenagers have been known to take excessive doses of Dex.  Often they mix it with another prescription drug or marijuana in order to get high.  This dangerous practice is called “Robotripping.”  In addition to euphoric highs, the practice has been reported to cause a spike in heart rate, blood pressure and body  temperatures and in some cases, death.  Care should taken with these medications.  Mixing prescription drugs, over the counter medications and illegal substances can lead to tragedy. At Abrams Landau, Ltd., we advise  you to protect your family, keep track of the medicines in your household, and be alert for excessive dosages and abuse.  In tomorrow’s post, useful information for you and your family regarding cough medicines that contain dextromethorphan.

For injured workers in Virginia, “marketing” is the defense that trips up many claimants’ otherwise meritorious claims every year. In many states, the injured worker must present evidence that they have taken reasonable steps to market their residual physical capacities and abilities to return to light duty work. The kinds of evidence permitted can take many forms. The judge will want to see consistent, reasonable and documented attempts to return to work that is consistent with the treating doctor’s light work restrictions and limitations as well as the injured worker’s education, training, transferrable skills and employment experience. Abrams Landau clients have succeeded in meeting this burden of proof in Virginia, Maryland and DC comp claims with the following evidence:

• Virginia Employment Commission cards showing “weekly contacts”
• Day planners with weekly entries

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