Landau Injury Law

Some jobs are more dangerous than others.  Working around the Metro trains, buses, tracks and repair garages exposes workers in Dc, Maryland and Virginia to significant risks of injury.  News reports this month indicate that the DC area’s Metropolitan transportation workers are getting hurt on the job more often than their counterparts at other transit agencies.   The high prevalence of injuries among workers is costing the Metro millions each year.

While some of the job tasks are more dangerous than others, part of the problem is the frequency of the injuries.  In 2010, Metro averaged 6.17 injuries per 200,000 hours of work, which is above the national transit industry standard of 5.0 injuries.  But some areas of Metro have four times the national rate.  In an effort to reduce worker’s compensation claims and the related costs to the transit system, Metro has focused on preventing injuries.  One of the strategies to reduce DC, Virginia and Maryland comp claims is (more…)

Removing humans from the sophisticated analysis of car crash injury cases does more than “dehumanize” the system.  It shows a lack of good faith on the part of the large automobile insurance comapnies.  Yesterday we discussed how lawsuit abuse and delay helps the insurance companies’ bottom line. Some insurance companies squeeze additional profits out of the car insurance business by removing the “person” from “personal injury.”

There are some car insurance companies, such as Allstate and Farmers, that have taken the human element out of claims handling, preferring to rely on a computer instead. Known as Colossus®, it is touted as “the insurance industry’s leading expert system for assisting adjusters in the evaluation of bodily injury claims.”

In these cases, the adjusters, insurance defense lawyers and claims handlers have NO SAY in (more…)

When filing “boilerplate allegations” or claiming ignorance of facts already known (and easily capable of being verified), insurance defense lawyers are abusing our civil justice system no less than the frivolous lawsuits they are always complaining about.  Having witnessed firsthand the stalling tactics of the major insurance companies, it is surprising that Americans do not call the carriers out for their collective “Lawsuit Abuse.” By way of example, there are several car insurance companies that clutter our courts with unnecessary litigation. Think about it, does the delay help the injured victim or the insurance company that has collected the premiums from their policy holders ?

The insurance company has the use of the money after the car wreck and while the litigation is pending. The reserves (money put “aside” to pay a claim) and the insurance company’s investments are not subject to the same taxes that you and I pay. If an insurance company has $100,000 in coverage for a car crash case, and they can delay the “day of judgement” at trial for 3 years, then even if they pay the full policy limits of $100,000, their lawyers and court costs will have been nothing ! Their insured may be exposed to “excess liability” if the verdict is more than the amount of coverage purchased. But does the car insurance company care ? Probably not – they probably made money on the deal ! In other words, the money the insurance company has made (and not paid taxes on) on reserves and investments may more than pay for their lawyers, doctors and other “hired guns.” How can any logical person suggest that this lawsuit abuse and forcing the filing and delay by “frivolous defenses” helps the injured victim or disabled person’s family ?

In tomorrow’s post, we will look at what some insurance companies have done to remove the “person” from “personal injury.”

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…)

Adding “insult to injury,” some drivers who cause car wrecks leave the scene of the accident or “forget” to call their automobile insurer afterwards.  What happens when the person who causes a car crash does not report the accident to her insurance company ?

The Landau Law Shop was recently apprised of a motor vehicle accident in the District of Columbia where an out of state driver caused a crash while driving the injured plaintiff passenger’s family’s car.  The passenger was riding in his parent’s car, which has a D.C. Motor Vehicle Insurance Policy with State Farm.   A family friend driver of parent’s car caused the accident and the plaintiff passenger was injured.

State Farm Auto Insurance company does not initially contest coverage for driver.  However, the Defendant driver disappears after the crash.  Furthermore, the Defendant driver will not or is not cooperating with State Farm Insurance, which has the coverage for the family’s automobile.  The Defendant driver was a “permissive user” as he had the family’s permission to operate their car.  State Farm car insurance decides that it is going to pull coverage for “failure to cooperate with litigation.”  In other words, the family’s motor vehicle insurance company does not deny that the injured person’s family had paid for insurance coverage, BUT, because the driver is not cooperating with the carrier’s investigation of the claim, they will withhold (more…)

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.”

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…)

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley and Herndon Virginia's Doug Landau are both concerned about American medical care costs and efficiency

The costs of medical care are on everyone’ mind these days.  Having worked for the incoming President of the American Medical Association (“AMA”), Doug Landau has long advocated for positive changes in the delivery and economics of the delivery of medical services in the United States.  The subject is complex, and there are many competing voices with competing interests in the debate.  However, having read thousands of pages of treatment records, billing statements and medical care forms, former American Association for Justice Disability Section Chairman Landau believes that one area ripe for enormous savings would be in the area of medical records and forms.

The Herndon Reston area attorney believes that there should be ONE standard form, just as there are standard forms and “Common Applications” for colleges, Medical Schools and other important decision-making processes.  Instead of doctors’ offices and hospitals having to fill out one kind of form for State Farm, another for Allstate and a completely different document for The Travelers, a blue ribbon panel, like the “Super Fund Study Group” should be set up, given a deadline to produce standardized forms for ALL insurance companies, self-insured employers and third party administrators.  This would save time in the health care providers’ facilities, enable easier computerization (and ease the trend toward “paperless” files and offices), and reduce the cost, in terms of time, manpower and money, to all concerned.

The rubber stamp used to be  lethal weapon in an insurance company’s arsenal.  A “DENIAL” by a health insurance company used to be the final word on treatment for many American families.  However, it’s a new day for American consumers; the Affordable Care Act enlarges the rights of insureds to appeal denials.  These rights include the right to an independent, external review board.  This appeal process can also be used when health insurance coverage is cancelled.  I would encourage all readers to avail themselves of this new law if they or a loved one have received a denial of needed medical care from their health insurance plan.

The Affordable Care Act is a comprehensive health care reform law that was enacted in March 2010. Insurance companies will not be able to deny claims without a chance for appeal.  In new health plans, you now have the right to demand that your health plan reconsider a decision to deny payment for a test or treatment. That also includes an external appeal to an independent reviewer.  The regulations will apply to new health insurance plans starting September 23, 2010.  “Until the [Federal health care law] reform, only a select number of states honored external review,” says Erin Moaratty, a spokesperson with the Hampton Virginia nonprofit Patient Advocate Foundation.

Patient Advocate Foundation’s Patient Services provides patients with arbitration, mediation and negotiation to settle issues with access to care, medical debt, and job retention related to their illness.  “Now every state is required have a process for external appeals.”  Review boards have reversed about 45% of appealed denials, according to my friend Candy Sagon’s excellent article in the September 2010 AARP Bulletin