Landau Injury Law

Businesses could save between $114,000 and $670,000 per claim by settling lawsuits early rather than mounting an extensive defense, a study of personal injury settlements has found. According to the study, which analyzed court settlements of personal injury and defective product injury cases against companies between 1988 and 2004 in Texas and Florida, early settlement offers reduce legal fees and non-economic damages. Doug Landau resolved several Florida cases for clients in the last year, and notes that there is a trend toward defense lawyers billing for depositions, written discovery, protracted motions and expert retention before there is any serious discussion of settlement.  Especially with the downturn in the economy, the insurance carriers are holding on to their reserves until the last possible moment. The of business cost savings study was published in the Columbia Business Law Review.  Sheri Qualters  06/09/2008. Read Article: Law.com    

When a personal injury case settles, the Insurance Company wants a Release to be signed before the check is cashed so that they (and their insureds) will not get sued again on the same claim.  When a case is filed in Court, and a settlement reached or verdict in favor of the injured plaintiff returned, the Court wants a “Final Order” signed showing that the case is resolved and can be dismissed from the active Trial or Hearing calendar.  Many clients wonder, if the “Final Order” ends the case, why does the Insurance Company and its lawyers want signatures on a separate (and seemingly superfluous) “Release” ?

One reason the lawyers for the Defendants in Product Liability, Negligence, Defective Products and Food, Slip and Fall, Children’s cases, Sports Accident, Brain Trauma, and other types of Personal Injury claims, want this Release, is that

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Doug Landau hates waste. Anyone who has seen him around the office knows that he enjoys “multi-tasking.” It makes the Herndon Reston brain injury lawyer nuts when clients waste their time, effort or money. However, there is one type of waste that it particularly grating.

As the former Chair of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America Disability, Social Security and Health Law Section, Landau compared notes with lawyers from all over the country. The ABRAMS LANDAU trial lawyer saw that the interplay of Social Security and Workers Comp laws resulted in permanently disabled and unemployed clients not getting back the money they had paid into the Federal system. In other words, when an injured client is eligible for BOTH State Workers Comp wage loss benefits AND the Federal Social Security Disability Income (”SSDI”) benefits, the Federal Government, like many private Long Term Disability Insurance plans, takes a “set off” for the comp money. For example, if a client (more…)

Doug Landau shown here at the hearing room where oral argument for Reviews (appeals) are heard by the Full Commission. After a workers comp claim is heard in Virginia by a Deputy Commissioner, BOTH sides have the right to ask for a “review.” A Review is an appeal to the Full Commission where 3 Commissioners review the case to see if the judge below made a mistake of law. Herndon Reston trial attorney Doug Landau regularly goes down to Richmond to review files, meet with VWCC staff, file exhibits and evidence, and investigate claims.

When a Hearing decision is received or a Settlement Order comes by Special Delivery, ABRAMS LANDAU staffers are often asked “When will I get the money ?”

The response is, “When the decision is final.”  That is because the staff at the Herndon and Reston area injury law firm knows that the insurance defense lawyers can appeal several weeks after the decision or Order are rendered.  In fact, they have additional time BEFORE late penalties are Awarded.  We are advised by the Commission that we must wait 34 days before they will entertain a request for 20% penalties to be assessed against the insurance company.  This is despite the “20 day” language in most contested Hearing decisions.  SO…save the envelope containing the checks, in order to prove late payment, BUT do not expect a check for 30 days or penalties to be assessed right away.

While the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission REQUIRES a valid address for injured workers in order to receive benefits, and failure to keep the Commission updated can lead to a termination of benefits, several clients each year fail to apprise the staff at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. of their new addresses, phone numbers or medical status, saving the insurance companies hundreds of thousands of dollars each year !  While the insurance companies certainly appreciate not sending these clients the money they have in reserves on their claims, in nearly every case, the injured worker and their family could use the funds.  Several clients have let the time limits run on their claims despite correspondence, phone calls and, where available, e-mails from ABRAMS LANDAU staff to advise them of their rights and responsibilities.  Do not let the time run on your claim.  Follow you counsel’s instructions and act responsibly and in a timely manner.  The time limits in the law are strict.  If you want to give the insurance company a “present,” send a card.  And remember, they are not going to do the same for you.

Under Virginia law, undocumented workers are eligible for most, but not all benefits. What are they eligible to receive under the law ?

Herndon/Reston Trial lawyer Doug Landau lists the following as some of the benefits such ABRAMS LANDAU clients are able to receive:

1. Temporary Total Disability (weekly wage loss)
2. Permanent Partial Disability (for a permanent partial disability % rating)
3. Medical Bill coverage (100%, with no deductible or limit) (more…)

This just in on the Trial lawyers listServ from our friend Dick Thomas, esteemed Roanoke Virginia Workers Comp lawyer:

We just got a review opinion , written by Commissioner Dudley, reversing the deputy commissioner and awarding benefits. Claimant had a series of injuries over the years, and had bilateral degenerative disease of the hips. In 2003, he fell on his left hip, and the deputy commissioner ruled that the fall aggravated his preexisting degenerative disease. He then developed increased symptoms in the right hip, which his treating orthopedist at the time attributed to overuse from favoring the left hip. He then had a left hip replacement, covered under his award. Further problems with the right hip ensued, resulting in right hip replacement by a different surgeon. The original doctor failed to relate the right hip problem, and the treating surgeon refused to give an opinion.

The Defense was “consequence of a consequence,” and therefore NOT compensable. In other words, the defense lawyer contended that causation was TOO REMOTE and that the employer/carrier should not be held responsible any more. The trial judge (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…)

Herndon Reston area Workers Comp injury lawyer Doug Landau notes that since the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission (”VWC”) does not hold Hearings in Court houses as often as it did 20 years ago, it is important to know where you are going and that the place of your Hearing may not look like the local Court House.
If you can attend Hearings weeks before your own “day in court,” then you and your family and witnesses should absolutely do so.  Workers Comp Hearings are generally open to the public, and you will be far better prepared and less anxious.  Also look at your “Official Comp File” while you are there.  Call before you go to make sure they have your file is in Fairfax, as the headquarters is in Richmond, and that is where most VWC files are kept before and after Hearings.

Shown here is disability and workplace injury lawyer Doug Landau outside the Fairfax branch of the Northern Virginia Regional Office of the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission.  The lower picture shows ABRAMS LANDAU’s Doug Landau in the reception area, where he often meets clients, their families and co-workers before and after their Hearings.  On this particular day,  he had met with a family as the result of a fatal truck crash injury.  Landau also reviewed the official files on other clients’ cases involving: paraplegia from a farm tractor rollover, brain injury, spinal cord surgery, permanent disability, head trauma, scarring and multiple fractures.