Landau Injury Law

Seeking a “side-by-side” comparison of several of our local legislators, I attended the Legislative Forum hosted by the Virginia Medical Society, Prince William, Alexandria and Fairfax Bar Associations.    The Candidates spoke on several important topics including Immigration, Transportation, Healthcare Funding and Working Across Party Lines.  Examiner Staff Writer Bill Myers was Moderator. The candidates who spoke were, from the Virginia House of Delegates Delegate David B. Albo (R) and Delegate Stephen C. Shannon (D).  From the Senate of Virginia, Senator Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II (R), Senator Patricia S. Ticer (D) and from the U.S. House of Representatives (11th District) Keith S. Fimian (R).  The event was well-attended and I was pleased to see many friends and colleagues there.  Here I am with my friend and talented medical negligence defense lawyer Joyce Naumann Massey of the Manassas firm of McCarthy, Massey & Mitchell, P.C.

In order to gauge the likely value of a case, the ABRAMS LANDAU team looks at a number of things, whether the client is involved in a car wreck, bicycle crash, slip and fall, dog attack or are injured due to a defective product, dangerous premises or other negligent conduct.  One of the best indicators is looking at jury verdict, mediation, arbitration and settlement amounts from similar cases in the same or similar jurisdictions.  This often requires Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau use computer research.  Lauren Holtzman, shown here, utilizes the expensive Lexis-Nexus programs the firm pays for as well as other state, local and national sources.  We also look at our own, internal data in order to narrow the range of expected jury verdicts.  We also look at collectibility and assets in order to determine whether, once we win, we can economically collect compensation for our deserving clients.  

The trial team at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. get calls from all over the country from victims of negligence, assaults and permanent injuries.  We are often asked (or told) “there’s a formula to these cases, isn’t there ?”When a brain-injured client’s parent tells me, “My neighbor’s friend’s dentist said that you just multiply the medical bills times three and that’s what you get for settlement” it is hard to explain that this has no basis in reality.  If this was true, then the woman I represented who slipped, fell and then lost her ability to have children would not have been able to seek more than just her Emergency Room bills.  If there was a formula of “three times specials,” then my younger clients, who miss time from school, would not get fair compensation.   A homemaker or person who could not get medical care (i.e., no CT Scans, x-rays, heavy pain medications) because they are pregnant, would be treated unfairly.  And those people who seek out unethical lawyers and over treat or go to unscrupulous doctors, would be unjustly enriched.  So, there is no “magic formula.”  It would not work in the majority of our cases, and we do not apply it in setting our demands, amounts sought in court or accepted in settlement.  At our Herndon injury law shop, we try to help people with all kinds of injuries, losses and cases.  Every case is unique and special.   See tomorrow’s post for more information on how Doug Landau and the ABRAMS LANDAU team evaluates injury, disease and disability cases.

Here are some reasons Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau or ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. may advise a client that it is in their interests to enter a compromise settlement rather than risk a jury trial: 1. Time - you get compensation faster,2. Cost - you save on the expenses of trial,3. Emotional cost - you eliminate the uncertainty of trial,4. Patient-Physician relationship not subject to cross-examination, in public, causing your doctor to have doubts or unpleasantness,5. Privacy - “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” but what comes out in discovery or Court, does not always “stay put,”6. A jury may award you less,7. A jury may award you nothing,8. A judge may take away the jury’s verdict,9. The Defense may appeal the verdict, causing more time loss, expense and stress,10.  If the defendant or insurance company goes into bankruptcy, the proceedings are stayed and there is often more delay.

Doug Landau, the “TriathlonTrialLawyer” enjoys competing in races all over the world.  The ABRAMS LANDAU trial attorney has represented injured athletes from all over the country. Landau also puts on small sporting events and volunteers at larger competitions each year.  In June, he will be heading to Lakeville, located in Litchfield County,in the NorthWest corner of Connecticut for his 30th high school reunion.  Like his classmate, and legislator Andrew Roraback, Doug has also been a member of the Litchfield County Bar Association for over 20 years.  While he has many duties as part of this class’s record setting Reunion Committee, he enjoys helping with the annual “Reunion Run,”  usually held on the school’s picturesque cross country and gold courses.  Here Landau (’78) is shown in 2006 after helping out Math Instructor Charlie Bell during an “off” year.  

Large verdicts in catastrophic cases do not always “stick.”  While the popular press likes to report our big number trials, the public does not realize that these extraordinary results are often taken away from deserving Plaintiffs or hung up on appeals for years.  The Connecticut Supreme Court has reversed a $41 million judgment for a construction worker who was paralyzed when a defectively welded girder fell on his head. In a unanimous finding, the court held that contractor Sordoni Skanska could not be held liable because it was not responsible for inspecting welds and because the accident was not foreseeable. The court based its ruling on Connecticut’s construction code concerning non-delegable duty for contractors.  Thomas B. Scheffey, Law.com  04/15/2008  Read Article: Law.com

‘Catch 22′: Price of doing well is more work elsewhere
By Peter Vieth”
from March 24, 2008 http://valawyersweekly.com/archive.cfm?recid=433388

Most Virginia Social Security disability claimants and their attorneys have avoided the long hearing delays that recently have plagued other areas of the country. Claimants in Northern Virginia, however, often wait a year or more for their hearings, and attorneys there are feeling the heat as the process slows down. (more…)

Clients of the Herndon- Reston area ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. have been receiving a special attachment to the Hearing Notices. It comes from Ann Beverly, the Ombudsman, an concerns the Commission’s FREE “MEDIATION” services. It states:

Mediation is an informal and voluntary process in which 2 or more people, have differing interests, work together with the help of a neutral mediator to arrive at a mutually satisfactory resolution to a conflict situation.

The Commission offers Mediation services to help resolve disputes quickly. Many issues can be resolved by the parties before a Hearing. These services are free and can be conducted in person or by telephone conference. If you are represented, you should ask your attorney if this is an option for you

For more information, go to the Commission’s website or contact the Ombudsman’s office. (www.vwc.state.va.us or call, toll free, 1-877-664-2566, menu option 6) (more…)

Robert Harris Sr., a retired Richmond Circuit judge who now mediates for The McCammon Group and who is approaching the $1 billion mark in the total value of settlements he has handled, is shown here with Herndon-Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau at the VTLA Annual Convention at The Homestead. Like ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., The McCammon Group is a sponsor of the 49th Annual Convention. The Hon. Robert Harris, Sr. (Richmond Circuit Court, retired) has been a mediator in some of the most serious injury cases in Virginia, including one of Mr. Landau’s head trauma and brain injury cases. That Fairfax County car crash case was mediated in Richmond and resulted in a settlement for Mr. Landau’s young client in excess of $2,000,000.00.
Judge Harris wrote in the Spring 1998 edition of the Journal of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association:
Over the past few years, mediation as a means of resolving disputes has grown exponentially in Virginia. Since my retirement as a circuit court judge in June 1995, I have personally mediated more than 400 cases across the Commonwealth, with 90 percent of those cases settled. I predict (more…)

On Thursday, March 13, 2008, Reston-Herndon, Virginia lawyer Doug Landau presented the tragic case of a motor cycle passenger who was struck by a motorist while traveling with friends. This 36-year-old woman was wearing her helmut, yet suffered traumatic brain injury (”TBI”) which has left her permanently disabled and in need of constant care. This ABRAMS LANDAU client was taken by helicopter to the INOVA Fairfax Hospital ICU, where she was kept on life support. Cycle injury lawyer Landau visited his client at the hospital and observed that she had orthopedic injuries as well. The cyclist had fractures in her leg and had multiple acute, traumatic injuries about her head, body and extremities. Doug Landau also visited her doctors and home.

Before this devastating cycle-car crash that resulted in her permanent brain damage, Doug Landau’s client had been accustomed to riding all over the world by bicycle and motorcycle. She was an executive with an international computer company. More importantly, she was a wife, a mother and a daughter. Now, as the result of her head and brain injuries, she is being cared for by her aged parents and her son is being raised in another country by his father’s family.

In his closing argument to the Federal Court, Doug Landau recited all the losses caused by the defendant driver’s negligence. In describing what had been taken from his client, Landau discussed his interactions with this brain damaged woman, her doctors, husband and family members. Not one to throw large numbers around lightly, the Herndon Reston brain injury trial lawyer asked the Court for an amount in excess of $20,000,000.00 to fix what has been broken, replace what has been taken and care for a woman who can no longer care for herself. ABRAMS LANDAU cycle crash and TBI lawyer Doug Landau is shown here with Reston accident attorney Steve Garver, who was counsel for the driver of the motorcycle. Mr. Garver’s client has also sustained permanent brain damage and is permanently disabled.