Post-9/11 Pentagon Fatality Results in Awards for Daughters by Two Different Mothers
In one of the more tragic cases of Herndon injury lawyer Doug Landau’s career, he was called upon to represent a worker who died in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon outside of Washington DC.
The Abrams Landau team represented the family of the pilot of the jet that crashed into the Pentagon, as well as the senior flight attendant’s family, and those of passengers traveling.
The devastation did not stop on that infamous day.
A crack team of welders was brought in from Colorado to repair the damage to our nation’s military headquarters. One of these workers was fatally crushed by a steel beam girder that fell out of its placement sling. He died instantly in a horrific manner.
Lawyer Landau was contacted, and undertook to represent the deceased worker’s middle school age daughter, living in Colorado with the employee’s ex-wife.
However, the decedent had divorced his first wife and mother of his daughter, and remarried. And in a tragic twist, his new wife was pregnant, but did not give birth until sometime after the post 9/11 workplace accident.
So what happens next?
As the ex-wife and current wife could not agree for the case to be settled, Doug Landau was able to fashion an Award from the Virginia Worker’s Compensation Commission that provided payments to BOTH daughters equally, until such time as either:
- the older daughter turned 18 or passed away, OR
- the younger daughter predeceased her sister, in which case the other would receive the full amount of the death benefit.
In Virginia, fatal job accident cases can be paid up to 500 weeks. However, Landau knew that this statute can be extended if the child is in a full-time qualifying educational institution.
The child in Colorado was in school, and received benefits beyond her 18th birthday.
Landau also has won cases for children who are themselves above the age of majority, but who are disabled, such that they can get almost 10 years of weekly compensation payments.
If you or someone you know may be eligible for Worker’s Compensation benefits, and has questions about how best to proceed, please contact us at once as there are strict legal time limits that can forever bar a child, spouse, and other family members from receiving a dime. Call us at 703-796-9555, or send an email.