Landau Injury Law

There are multiple types of brain injury from a car or truck crash. Rapid acceleration and rotational forces can send the brain bouncing around inside the skull.  There can be impact with the front windshield or side windows.  There can even be impact with an exploding airbag.   These forces can twist or tear axons. Axons are the long, thin fibers that connect nerve cells. This tearing, or shearing, can cause bleeding and swelling in the brain. This swelling and bleeding can cause further injury. In animal studies, there are signs of neurodegeneration. Neural fibers break down, triggering cell death.

About half of the victims of concussions recover quickly. In the other fifty percent, the the symptoms can linger indefinitely. Approximately 10% of the people who suffer concussions have problems severe enough to interfere with their activities of daily living (”ADLs”) and work. If you or someone you know, has sustained a concussion or traumatic brain injury from a car crash, explosion, fall or other impact of the skull, seek medical attention. If your head has been subjected to rapid acceleration or deceleration forces, and you have: severe headaches, difficulty sleeping, problems with memory and concentration, lapses in balance and coordination and changes in personality, seek neurological help at once. Reinjuring the brain while it is still in a vulnerable state can lead to serious, lifetime injury. Subtler damage may accumulate, leading to depression and cognitive decline, such that previously simple mental tasks become major challenges. If these symptoms are due to a crash or other accident caused by someone else’s negligence or carelessness, please call our office so that we may help. At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we have the resources to help victims of brain injury and their families.

With drivers increasing their hours on the road in order to make up for lost profits due to the rising costs of gas, truck rollover accidents are not such rare occurrences on the roads. At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. we have seen cases involving the negligence of truck drivers that have caused permanent injuries to our clients. We have also tried cases where there was a violation of the laws that set limits on how many hours in a 24-hour period a trucker can operate his or her rig. Furthermore, there are rules about equipment, medications, mandatory rest breaks and training that if violated, can lead to a finding of negligence against the trucker and the trucking company.

“YES.” At Abrams Landau I have seen too many cases where the driver who caused the crash say “It’s my fault.” at the scene, only to recant later at Traffic Court, after a lawsuit is filed, and even at the trial of our client’s injury case. Our Herndon Reston area injury and car crash law firm has also seen cases where the facts seemed clear at the crash site, only to be disputed later by the negligent (and sometime drunk !) Defendant driver’s insurance company and their lawyers.

When in doubt, call the cops. The police can make a full investigation, get witness information and take measurements at the scene before the vehicles are moved and the “debris field” is disturbed. Plus, if the police are not contacted, there will likely not be any Traffic Court hearing, with the potential for a helpful Court transcript. “When in doubt, call them out.” If your injuries are too severe to call for help, have the first responders call law enforcement. When you are injured in a car crash, you have other things on your mind other than investigating the causes of the crash and who is at fault. The police accident reconstructions teams have special training. Let the pros investigate the crash while you focus on getting prompt, helpful medical care.

This important concept explains both short and long term neurologic deficits in patients whose trauma did not produce either contusions, hemorrhages or lacerations sufficient to account for the deficits. Frequently, the latter lesions are minimal but the deficit is severe. Sometimes, notes Herndon Reston brain injury lawyer Doug Landau, there is a minimal laceration (cut) or not cut at all, but the neurological damage is significant. This is often harder on the innocent crash victim because they have no “Red Badge of Courage” to display to friends, family or their physicians to buttress their claims of disability, deficit and suffering. This, in turn can cause anxiety, depression and fear, especially in cases in the long and trying litigation process adds Landau.

How does Diffuse Axonal Injury occur ? What has happened is that rotational and other movements of the brain during trauma has resulted in injury to numerous axons in both cerebrum and brain stem. Brain injury trial attorney Doug Landau explains that this can happen as the result of a sharp, fast back-and-forth movement of the skull, or a rapid twisting of the head from an impact, or a high-velocity combination of (more…)

When an injured victim of a crash is brought into an emergency room, x-rays are often ordered. However, Herndon Reston area brain injury lawyer Doug Landau notes that while such diagnostic testing, while good for showing broken bones and fractures, does not show many kinds of brain injury. For example, a cyclist or motorist injured in a crash may have a subdural hematoma (sometimes spelled, “haematoma”) which may not show up in the Hospital immediately on a post-accident x-ray.
A Subdural Hematoma is a collection of blood that pools under the dura. Because x-rays do not “see” blood as easily as hard, boney structures, Doug Landau advises that these are sometimes missed. The dura is a relatively tough connective tissue (collagenous) membrane, about the thickness of parchment paper. It is firmly attached to the under surface of the skull, and in the spinal canal, it is separated from the bony structure (more…)

In the previous posting, brain injury lawyer Doug Landau listed Direct Effects of head trauma and brain injuries.  In addition to those sometimes permanently disabling effects of an impact or blow involving the skull and brain, the Herndon Reston trial attorney notes that there are “Secondary Effect” which can also be quite devastating to the innocent victim of a bike or car crash.  Listed below are Secondary Effects of brain injury and head trauma:

B. SECONDARY EFFECTS OF BRAIN INJURY AND HEAD TRAUMA:

1. Cerebral edema or swelling

2. Herniations of brain tissue

3. Infection

4. As a result of traumatic brain damage, there may be permanent localizing neurologic defects or post-traumatic epilepsy.

See, www.pathology.vcu.edu/trauma.html

Traumatic lesions, whether they are the product of closed or penetrating injuries, and whether they are coup or contra-coup, may be said to have direct effects, and secondary effects.  Brain injury lawyer Doug Landau notes that it is important to have an experienced specialist examine and test for the subtle effects of a closed head injury and brain trauma.  Direct Effects of head trauma and brain injury, whether from bike crashes, falls, motor vehicle accidents, falling merchandise, or sudden acceleration/deceleration events, are listed below:

A. DIRECT EFFECTS

1. Skull fracture

2. Hemorrhages–epidural, subdural, subarachnoid or parenchymal

3. Lesions to brain–contusion, laceration [ the most minor “lesion” has no identifiable gross or microscopic counterpart in human material and is the concussion which produces unconsciousness].

4. Diffuse axonal injury [DAI]

(In the next post, Doug Landau will cover Secondary Effects of head trauma and brain injury.)

Brain injury lawyer Doug Landau studied neurology and neurophysiology before attending law school. He recognized that it was important to understand how his clients’ bodies functioned. This Virginia trial lawyer also realized that he needed to have more than just a passing understanding of the medical terminology used in his clients’ records and experts’ reports.

Landau (shown here teaching in Richmond on the topic of medical care and equipment for disabled workers on a government program) is fond of pointing out that the human body is a miraculous machine. It is resilient, and often able to recover from horrific and traumatic injury. The ABRAMS LANDAU trial team has seen a number of clients heal from terrible injuries and bounce back from enormous impact. This is especially true of our younger clients. Children, even those who sustain fractured skulls and subdural hematoma, seem to make better recoveries than their adult counterparts.

Part of the resiliency of the human body is found in the flexibility and elasticity of many of its parts. Tendons, ligaments, muscles and other connective tissues are often able to withstand and absorb significant impact and blows. There may be bruising and pain, but (more…)

ABRAMS LANDAU clients with severe disability or brain injury are often appointed a Guardian ad Litem In a court of law, Guardian Ad Litem literally means, “guardian for the suit.” Actually, Doug Landau was a Classics Minor in college and studied Latin for a number of years. He likens the phrase to mean “a Guardian who takes you to the shore.” The Herndon Reston brain injury lawyer notes that a Guardian Ad Litem has been appointed for mentally disabled clients, children in “infant settlement” cases and clients with brain injuries or who are in comas and cannot assist in their own cases or manage their own finances. For a client on life support at INOVA Fairfax Hospital, a Guardian was appointed to look out for her interests and to bring the lawsuit in his name.

A guardian ad litem in Virginia is an attorney (more…)

General Principles

A blow to the head, or any other severe physical force, can deform, displace, and tear the tissues covering the brain and the brain itself.  According to brain injury lawyer Doug Landau of the Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., the injury and disability from this type of “inside” injury can be more devastating than a fractured skull.   Tears in the “soft tissues” or “connective tissues” covering and protecting the brain may produce loss of function, necrosis, and hemorrhages.

Head injuries can be classified as:

(a) Closed: when a blunt object damages the brain and its coverings without actually perforating the skull or dura.  The closed type of injury constitutes the majority of civilian injuries. Extensive intracranial damage may result from an injury to the head which produces little damage to the outside.  Instead, the force may be communicated through a rigid, bony vault (calvarium) to the soft tissue within.

(b) Penetrating: when the skull and brain are directly lacerated by an object, such as a bullet or a knife.  Brain injury lawyer Doug Landau notes that when the skull is pierced by a penetrating object that needs to be surgically removed, it is sometimes called “Excaliber Syndrome.”  While working at Columbia Presbyterian Neurological Institute in the 1970s, Landau witnessed just such an extraction, as well as “penetrating” head injuries sustained by New York City Police and Law Enforcement Officers.  Even when the injury to the brain was not readily apparent, the object (in one case, a metal pipe) was easily observed on the x-rays.