3 Jun, 2008
Lauren Holtzman of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., investigating another triathlete's brain injury and head trauma caseJust as careful preparation can help every athlete on race day, proper post-accident investigation can assist the chances of a successful claim in a court of law. Brain injury lawyer Lauren Holtzman, shown here in the ABRAMS LANDAU conference room, recently explained to an injured triathlete why it is so important to get early documentation in a head injury and brain trauma case.
Juries are skeptical. It is important to have objective evidence. In other words, juries may “filter out” subjective complaints UNLESS there are supporting documents, photos, x-rays or other OBJECTIVE evidence.
It is for this reason that Herndon brain injury attorney Holtzman requests x-ray, MRI and CT Scan reports and definitive diagnoses from potential clients, rather than treatment notes and subjective journal entries. If you have been in a bicycle crash, attacked by a dog, struck by a car, disabled due to a defective bike component, bitten by someone’s pet, injured while cycling, or the victim of someone else’s negligence or unlawful behavior, call us at once. Remember, the more evidence, information and documentation we can gather immediately after the crash or animal attack, the greater the chances of success later in Court.
2 Jun, 2008
Looking over his “post mortem notes” after the Reston Sprint Triathlon Sunday, Doug Landau noted several key mistakes that cost him 3-5 minutes.
TheAthletesLawyer Doug Landau critiques his performances in all races, as well as all cases, in order to improve1. Prepare as much as possible the night before. (Landau had not secured his Nimble race wheels to his bike ahead of time, and the loose screws resulted in rubbing against the frame, wearing out the tires and using extra effort to get up the hills. The wheel rubbing also forced the experienced racer off the bike TWICE to make repairs.
2. Freeze an inch or two of liquid in the water bottle if it will be a hot day. HOWEVER, take your straw out first. Landau blew it again. He could not get any liquid Cytomax during 80% of the ride because his straw was frozen. Then, in pulling on it to shake the ice out, he broke the aero bottle straw. He also did not have a second bottle because it was such a short race ! There was plenty left in the bottle after the race.
3. Start you heart rate monitor, stop watch, cyclometer, time window swim chronograph and other electronics BEFORE you leave the wall to swim. Stopping in the pool will result in your getting passed, cussed at, out of synch and smacked. Starting these things a few seconds before the Race Officials yell “GO !” will now corrupt your data.
Despite these mistakes, Landau swam the 400 meters in 8:07, for 9th place in the 45-49 age category. The Herndon brain injury lawyer followed that less-than-stellar swim with the fastest transition time (0:55) of the group and a decent 5th place bike ride in 31:48 (despite 2 dismounts for mechanical problems). The next transition was a little slow, but good enough for 3rd at 1:05, which, followed by the 4th fastest run in the bracket (22:43 for a hilly 5km.) resulted in an overall time of 1:04:36 and another age group prize.
1 Jun, 2008
TriathlonTrialLawyer Doug Landau and Octagon COO Rob Urbach and Isidero Reverte at the Reston Sprint TriathlonDoug Landau is shown here with Maccabiah Teammate Rob Urbach, of Octagon Sports and Isidro Reverte after the Reston Sprint Triathlon. This trio of Masters Competitors finished 13th (Urbach), 14th (Landau) and 15th (Reverte) respectively out of over 300 finishers. Urbach beat the Triathlon Trial Lawyer by over a minute, despite not having had the opportunity to train in all 3 disciplines (and not wearing a swim cap in the pool !). See tomorrow’s post for coverage of Landau’s mistakes. Just like any experienced trial attorney, TheAthletesLawyer reviews his performance and tries to learn so as to be better next time. There will be a re-match at a future Virginia Triathlon Series race !
