Landau Injury Law

What costs or fees are routinely allowed a prevailing Plaintiff in Virginia Circuit Court case ?

Herndon Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau frequently advises clients as to, "How long, how hard and how much" in their accident and disability cases

Under the American justice system, the losing side generally does not pay the attorney fees of the winner.  In other posts, Herndon Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau has discussed the payment of per-judgment and post-judgment interest.  Other costs and fees a losing Defendant may have to pay are  very limited.  They are generally limited to just filing fees (required to start a lawsuit in the County or City Circuit Court), writ tax, and service of process (the cost to have a Sheriff “serve” or give the papers to the Defendants). Jury costs are generally taxed against the losing party, but that is paid to the court, not the winner. A winning Plaintiff (more…)

Because they are so hard to win, many so-called “personal injury” law firms do not handle, and certainly do not go to court and try “slip and fall” or “trip and fall” cases.  In these “premises liability claims, the injured victim must show “Notice” in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  I am reminded of a particular case we filed in Prince William County.  The 7-11 manager shouted “I told them to fix that month’s ago,” after my client, a nurse, had her shoe caught by a missing chunk of concrete that had been painted over in front of the convenience store.  As our client lay on the sidewalk, with her mouth bleeding and other injuries causing pain throughout her body, the manager’s words would not soon be forgotten.  Yet the 7-11 defense lawyers asserted that the nurse could not bring her personal injury case unless she could show:

• that their premises was dangerous (that there was some defect that could cause harm), AND
• that the store had NOTICE of this defect such that they had a reasonable amount of time to fix it, warn about it or replace it.

My client’s testimony as to the manager’s excited utterance showed that the store management KNEW and had notice as to the defect on their property.  The chunk of concrete that formed a “V” on the curb leading from the parking lot to the store entrance had not only been there for a significant period of time, but it had been painted over by the 7-11 maintenance crew !  So this ABRAMS LANDAU client was able to show that her case satisfied the “notice requirement” and would go to a jury.  The case settled before trial.  Proving “NOTICE” can be supported by:

• prior similar incidents in the past,
• work orders to repair the defect in the property,
• other, prior claims by people injured in a similar manner,
• statements by employees, managers, owners or others.

If you or someone you care for has been injured in a trip and fall, slip and fall or other injury caused by a dangerous building or other structure, let our Herndon law firm help you prove NOTICE and the other important aspects of your injury or disability case.  You may reach ABRAMS LANDAU by e-mail or by phone at 703-796-9555.

With our last several cases involving unsafe drivers with limited insurance and assets, I am reaching out to all of our clients to review their personal insurance coverages and to make sure that they, and their loved ones, are protected this holiday season.  In several cases, the harms were many hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the cases had to settle for $50-100,000, because that’s all the insurance available, an there was no ability to collect any additional money to pay for the losses caused by the unsafe drivers.  And it’s not just car crash cases.  In slip and fall, dog bite, bicycle accident and animal attack cases has all resulted in reduced compensation because the Defendants (and sometimes the innocent victims themselves) have minimal insurance coverage.  Unlike shopping for presents, shopping for and purchasing insurance can be a daunting task. Insurance by its very definition is intended to provide you security when the unknown and unexpected happens. So when you are purchasing insurance, it is often very difficult to know what type of coverage, and how much coverage you need. In the midst of the confusion surround insurance, one type of insurance that often gets thrown around is “umbrella insurance”. What exactly is it? And who needs it?

Umbrella insurance is (more…)

After Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was wounded in a mass shooting that injured 12 people in January, doctors removed a portion of the left side of her skull to prevent her brain from swelling and to halt tissue damage.  This month the doctors used a hard plastic implant to repair a hole in Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ skull, according to news reports.

This is the latest milestone in her recovery from an assassination attempt.  Experts say the plastic skull implant will improve her quality of life.  The neurological specialists had to remove a portion of her skull to relieve pressure on her brain. The implant means Giffords no longer needs the protective helmets, one decorated with an Arizona flag, that she has used since the initial skull-removal procedure.  According to USA Today, the Memorial Hermann’s neuroscience institute surgeons intended to attach a computer-modeled artificial implant, not the actual piece of skull removed from Giffords head. The missing piece of Giffords’ skull has been described as a little bigger than the palm of one’s hand.

The reason this news story resonated with everyone at the Herndon law firm of Abrams Landau is because we were visited today by a client who had a piece offer skull removed at Fairfax Hospital after the swelling in her head caused by a slip and fall accident caused pressure on her brain.  This health care worker then spent time in the Mount Vernon Bridge Program regaining her ability to speak and perform other activities of daily living.  She wore a bicycle helmet until the neurosurgeon could put the piece of her skull, which had been kept in a special refrigerated, sterile unit, back in her head !  She has had several operations and has returned to work.  We hope that she continues to heal and help others.  If you have been sustained an injury to your head or skull, and would like assistance with a legal claim for Social Security Disability, Workers Compensation or a slip and fall or car crash case, please call our Herndon Law Shop today at 703-796-9555 or e-mail us.

Other lawyers will sometimes refer to weak cases or those without merit as “dog cases.”  Previous posts have covered dog bites, animal attacks and even dog “knock down” injury cases.  Unrelated posts have discussed the very  serious consequences of premises liability cases where a slip and fall may have lead to back surgery, permaennt disability and scarring.  Having helped victims of dog attacks, those injured by dog bites and others needing back surgery as the result of slip and fall accidents, Doug Landau of the Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU was intrigued by the Lawyers Weekly “Dog Law Trifecta.”

In addition to the reported dog custody case and homeowner’s association election of a canine, Lawyers Weekly Editor Paul Fletcher noted a case set for trial in Norfolk where the plaintiff claimed to have been injured by poop at a Newport News PetSmart store.  The federal lawsuit alleged (more…)

Must all accident cases be submitted to a jury for decision ?  Are all accident cases expensive to try ?  The short answer is “no.”  While most of the injury cases filed by the Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. are heard by judges and juries in the Virginia Circuit Courts or the Federal District Courts, a number of injured victims contact the Landau Law Shop for help with matters that do not meet our criteria for filing for a jury trial.  Doug Landau will often suggest that these prospective plaintiffs retain counsel to bring their meritorious injury claims in one of the local General District Courts.  The General District Courts decide cases where there is less than $15,000 in controversy, non-felony criminal cases, traffic violations and other matters.  The filing fees are lower, there are no juries and pre-trial discovery is limited (and much less expensive).  These “courts not of record,” do not provide court reporters, so the parties must hire their own private court stenographer to make a record if they want to later appeal the judge’s ruling.

According to Lawyers Weekly, Fairfax County’s 10 general district judges handle some 37,000 cases a year. “That doesn’t give you an awful lot of time to deal with folks,” according to Chief Judge Donald P. McDonough.  If you do the math, that’s an average of 77 cases a day per judge !  “It’s a very intense and difficult job,” notes experienced Fairfax and Loudoun County trial lawyer Doug Landau, “and unlike the trial courts, these judges have to decide the facts as well as the law !”

What kinds of issues are that inflammatory ?  Examples of irrelevant topics Doug Landau of the Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU has succeeded in getting excluded from a personal injury trial include:

• prior accidents (with no injury, affecting other body parts, causing only property damage, etc.),
• criminal record (no felonies or misdemeanors involving “moral turpitude” or juvenile convictions),
• other health problems (pre-existing conditions, psychiatric care, subsequent accidents affecting different parts of the body, psychological and other counseling, HIV, Hepatitis, etc.),
• Litigation History (divorce, custody disputes, landlord-tenant, will contest, property ownership, Workers Compensation, etc.)

If there are issues that would distract a jury such that the fact-finders would be prejudiced in your case, speak to an experienced personal injury lawyer about how best to either keep such irrelevant topics out of the trial, or to deal with them in an appropriate manner.  By getting a pre-trial ruling from the trial judge in a permanent injury case, both sides can know the “ground rules” and avoid a mis-trial.  If a mistrial is declared, and the parties have to come back to court and re-try the case.   The jurors’ and witnesses’ valuable time will have been wasted.  If the insurance defense lawyers caused the mistrial by running afoul of the injury trial judge’s pre-trial ruling “in limine,” then the plaintiff’s lawyer may be able to ask for costs and other sanctions.

We have all seen scenes from depositions.  The story in the recent hit movie “The Social Network” is told in large part through the FaceBook founder’s disastrous deposition testimony.  The process of filing a lawsuit and seeing it all the way through trial after a car crash, truck accident or slip and fall can at times be disorienting and even frustrating. Perhaps one of the most intimidating parts of this process is the deposition, also known as an “examination before trial” or “EBT” in some jurisdictions.  Anyone who has been a part of a lawsuit is likely familiar with how a deposition works. Essentially, a deposition (or “depo,” for short) is where an attorney selects a specific person that they believe has information related to the case and that they would like to get that information from. The attorney then schedules a day, or sometimes several days, to sit down and ask that individual questions under oath. The information gathered during the deposition—the answers to the questions—can be used to help develop a case further and is sometimes even referenced in the actual trial.

From a personal injury plaintiff’s perspective, the deposition can be an intimidating and even uncomfortable experience. Generally, when an injured person is filing a lawsuit, it is assumed that they will be required to participate in a deposition. The opposing side’s attorneys—in car accident cases, this is often the insurance company—will confront the accident victim with (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…)

Last week saw the first flakes of the Winter of 2010-2011 at the Landau Law Shop.  There was no accumulation at the ABRAMS LANDAU Herndon law firm, but other parts of the country have already been buffeted by severe winter storms and snow accumulation.  Last year the Washington DC metropolitan area got pummeled by record-setting snow storms.  In the aftermath there were numerous calls to Herndon Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau as the result of car crashes, dangerous conditions on commercial premises, slip and fall accidents.

Virginia Department of Transportation (“VDOT”) officials say lessons they learned in dealing with last year’s record snowfalls have translated into a series of actions to better prepare for this winter.

When snowfall exceeds 18 inches, (more…)