Landau Injury Law

The 3 steps to preventing unnecessary head injury for kids on bikes are: have a helmet; have the helmet properly fitted; and wear it !

Just like the free helmet giveaway in Herndon, fitting young bikers with helmets in Maryland in order to protect young riders from preventable head injury was the goal of the Helmet Giveaway at the Children’s National Medical Center “Cyclefest.” The Trial Lawyers Association of DC (“TLA-DC”) volunteers donated 400 helmets and helped fit kids to their “lids” so that they could ride safely on the streets of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Formally known as “Bicycle Safety Day,” (more…)

Herndon bicycle police officers and bike safety lawyer Doug Landau preparing to give free Bell Sport cycling helmets to Hutchison Elementary School students

Yesterday, all sixth graders at Hutchison Elementary School learned about using their heads, protecting their brains and then received complimentary bicycle helmets. With the “hands on” help of Dr. Paul Aravich from Eastern Virginia Medical School, Fairfax County Police Officers, and bike safety lawyer Doug Landau of the Herndon law firm Abrams Landau, the students got rubber gloves and were encouraged to hold and touch real human brains, skulls and spinal cords.  The focus of the program was making good choices, including the choice to wear head protection when cycling, skate boarding, roller blading, long boarding, mountain biking and other wheeled sports.  According to the Virginia Department of Health, bicycle helmets, when worn properly, reduce the risk of a serious brain injury by almost 90%.  The Herndon school children were encouraged to wear a helmet when biking.  After the school assembly, a Bell Sports bike helmet was given to every child in the Hutchison Elementary School sixth grade.

Mr. Landau is known as “the Athletes Lawyer” because of his representation of many injured cyclists and other injured athletes.  Landau is a competitive triathlete, who is a three time winner of the Herndon Super Sprint Triathlon, a USAT Triathlon All American and World Championship qualifier.  Mr. Landau is sponsoring the event in cooperation with the Virginia Trial Lawyers Law Foundation and Mr. Henry Tragle, an outstanding local triathlete and father of 2, who was injured on his bike.  Fortunately Mr. Tragle’s brain was protected by his helmet.  Mr. Tragle won this year’s Reston Sprint and was runner up at last month’s Reston Triathlon.

Doug Landau hopes to visit other Reston, Herndon and Oak Hill Virginia area schools in order to protect other students and prevent disabling and fatal head injuries to these young cyclists.  If you or someone you know or care for would like Mr. Landau to come to their school to discuss bike safety and traumatic brain injury, please e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. (703-796-9555).

Every year we hear the sad news of a teenager being killed or badly injured in a car crash by news-reporters citing studies showing how such a tragedy could be prevented followed by over embellished shallow sympathies.  Clearly this is not the best approach as more thought should be put in before a crash, not after. This is why S.A.D.D. (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Liberty Mutual are looking into the real reasons teens are having crashes and what can be done.

One of the main issues with teen driving is the teens do not think they are to blame.  “According to a study, 68 percent of teens admit to having narrowly avoided a crash”, but it was also found that the driver blamed just about every other factor except themselves.  Teens admitted to using a cellphone for either texting or talking a little above 30% of the time but 92% of teens still think they are safe drivers.  There is another conundrum facing adults trying to teach safe driving. Teens are not changing their driving habits for more than a month after a narrow miss, but many remain causes long after an actual crash.  Seeing as having all teens experience a crash is clearly a bad idea, but how do you teach them the same lesson of how dangerous are car can be.

We would love to hear was you think about the subject by responding to this post.  Also, if you know of any driver which has been involved in a car collision feel free to contact us at The Herndon Law Shop or call us at 703-796-9555

With back to school comes varsity sports and all the late night practices, close friendships, and sadly injuries.  Concussions occur too often each year and are a potentially dangerous injury.  Concussions occur when a person is stuck on the head and the brain on the opposite side bruises from the impact with the skull. While concussions are rarely a devastating injury after one occurrence, multiple occurrences of this injury can have an accumulative adverse affect.  This is why on July 1, 2011 Virginia passed a law where any student which sustains a concussion is benched until they receive medical clearance from a medical professional or athletic trainer. For more details check out the Student-Athlete Protection Act which focuses on minimizing further damage from a concussion which could effect them later in life.

Fortunately, the community has also identified how devastating concussions can be are are spreading awareness and implementing precautions.  For example, some schools are utilizing a computer program which can identify concussions faster and more accurately.  In addition, Dick’s Sport Goods has created PACE (Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education) a program designed to spread information about concussions with the support of famous athletes like Doug Flutie and Jerome Bettis. The AAN (American Academy of Neurology) has put together a website toolkit for parents and students to prevent and recognize concussions. While concussion are a serious matter it is good to know that both the legal and local communities are taking strong steps to keep student sports fun but also safe.

As the medical profession continues to learn more about the adverse long term effect of concussions, it is important to be safe instead of sorry.  If you or your child has sustained a head trauma please  get it examined by a medical professional. If you think you need legal advice concerning a concussion or other wrongfully acquired injury please contact us at the Herndon Law Shop at 703-796-9555 or email us.

It does not matter who is behind the wheel, reasonable transportation expenses are reimbursed by the Virginia Workers Compensation Insurance Companies when such travel is in connection with medical care that satisfies the “three Rs” (Reasonable, Related and by Referral).  A call to the Herndon law Firm ABRAMS LANDAU repeated this often heard question.  In order to be reimbursed for trips to the doctor, physical therapist, hospital, radiologist, etc., it does not matter if:

• Your daughter, son, wife or parents drove you,
• You took a cab because you could not drive,
• An old friend gave you a lift in his vintage mustang,
• You hopped the local bus (or two) and then the Metro,
• A car service was required because there is no public transit nearby,
• The Medical services building charges you for parking,
• There are toll roads along the way to the therapist’s office,

As long as you have the receipts for the taxi, bus, subway, parking, tolls and other travel related expenses.  If you go to a health care provider for treatment, then such expenditures may be covered under your Workers Compensation Award.  For use of your own car (whether or not you were driving, as many ABRAMS LANDAU client cannot drive themselves to their medical appointments because of the severity of their injuries), mapquest or the mileage on the odometer can be summated for payment.  In cases where the injured or disabled worker cannot drive and has no one to take them, cab fare or car service may be reasonable under the circumstances.  In some permanent total disability cases, the insurance companies have paid for car service, limousines and taxi cabs to shuttle our clients to their necessary medical appointments.  Bottom line: keep the receipts and good written records for full reimbursement !

A “Guardian Ad Litem” is usually a lawyer appointed to meet with injury victims who wish to compromise their lawsuit who is able to then explain to the court, independently of their own counsel, why a settlement of their case is or is not in their best interests.  Following up on the ABRAMS LANDAU Herndon law firm’s post on new procedures for Guardian ad Litem (“GAL”) in personal injury settlements, there will now be a new process for GALs in ALL civil cases.  The judges of the Circuit Court have decided to extend the newly adopted system for the appointment of guardians ad litem in cases involving infant settlement and wrongful death settlements to the appointment of guardians ad litem in all civil cases before the Circuit Court.

Beginning this month, counsel appearing in cases which require the appointment of a guardian ad litem (GAL), including but not limited to adoptions, cases involving persons under a disability (such as a truck crash defendant who may be in jail or was rendered mentally impaired due to injuries sustained in the car wreck), guardianships and conservatorships, should submit to the court (more…)

Dog bites accounted for more than a third of all homeowner or renter policy liability claims last year, with an average claim of $24,840. Herndon dog attack lawyer Doug Landau has met with victims of dog attacks who could not be reimbursed for the harms caused by dangerous dogs because the defendants’ homeowners insurance company specifically excluded the injury causing dogs ! Canine attacks often cause permanent injury and scarring, both the physical and the emotional kind.

The Insurance Information Institute’s statistics were included in a recent piece in the AARP Bulletin.  Most companies will cover dog bites, but one free bite is all you get in Virginia. After that, your company may charge a higher premium or exclude your dog from coverage. Landau has seen policies where there is a specific exclusion (more…)

A Virginia Circuit Court judge has ruled that two $10 million wrongful death lawsuits filed by families of Virginia Tech students killed in the 2007 massacre in Blacksburg can go forward.  On April 16, 2009 — the two-year anniversary of the deadliest shooting on a college campus in U.S. history — the lawsuits were filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court on behalf of two families who lost their daughters that day.  The plaintiffs said in a statement (more…)

People ask car crash lawyer Doug Landau of the ABRAMS LANDAU law firm in Herndon, Virginia, if you can still sue a drunk or reckless driver if they have been sent to jail.  Last week’s post by Herndon lawyer Landau about Guardians ad Litem addressed how “incompetent” defendants (who are incarcerated or mentally unable to participate at trial) are represented in the Fairfax Virginia Circuit Court.  Licensed in “the Sunshine State,” Landau finds a recently reported Florida wrongful death case instructive.

A Lee County Florida jury awarded a family $14 million last week in a lawsuit filed over the death of two of their sons in a drunk-driving crash. The accident occurred in 2007 when a man who had been drinking all night at a local bar hit the truck the two young boys were riding in at about 80 mph.  In 2008, the defendant pleaded no contest in the criminal case and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. (more…)

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…)