By Stephanie Slater GoldfussÂ
Chief Marketing OfficerÂ
An insurance claims adjuster and her autistic son were involved in what an insurance company considered a relatively minor car crash.
The consequences for her son were anything but.
The child was nonverbal, and his parents had spent years helping him overcome behavioral challenges and make significant progress in the classroom. After the collision, those behaviors changed dramatically, undoing much of that progress.
The insurance company questioned whether the changes could really have been caused by the car accident.
That’s when the family turned to Joe Landy.
Landy, a partner at Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel – Florida Injury Lawyers, has spent more than two decades building a reputation as a fierce advocate in the special needs community. As the father of an autistic son, his commitment is deeply personal.
“I live and breathe in this world every single day,” Landy said. “I’m going to have a very clear-cut understanding of what they’re going through and what their loved one is going through.”
His experience as both a father and a trial lawyer gives him a unique understanding of the challenges people with developmental disabilities face and how profoundly an injury or traumatic event can affect their lives.
In the case of the autistic child injured in the car crash, Landy understood something the insurance company did not.
A child who cannot communicate verbally may be unable to explain what happened, express pain or understand the source of his fear, making an already traumatic experience even more frightening.
He also recognized the significance of the child’s behavioral regression and the years of progress that had been lost. His challenge was demonstrating the full extent of those damages to the insurance company.
Landy spoke directly with the insurance adjuster to explain the connection between the accident and the child’s behavioral changes. He followed up with a detailed letter and created a “day in the life” video documenting the challenges the family was experiencing after the crash.
The insurance company ultimately paid its policy limits without Landy having to file a lawsuit.
Challenging How Injuries Are Valued
The case illustrates a problem Landy has encountered throughout his legal career: Injuries involving people with special needs are often misunderstood, minimized or undervalued.
“When I defended cases in the ’90s, insurance companies and defense attorneys oftentimes would place little to no value on cases involving the special needs population,” Landy said.
He believes society’s understanding of people with disabilities has improved over the years, but misconceptions remain, particularly when it comes to evaluating the impact of an injury.
Landy believes the vulnerability of a person with significant developmental disabilities can make the consequences of an injury even more profound.
“They don’t have the ability to vocalize how things affect them, like you and I do, which makes it incredibly scary for them,” he said.
Having spent years defending personal injury cases, Landy knows firsthand how insurance companies evaluate claims and the strategies they use to challenge injuries and minimize payouts. Today, he uses that experience to advocate for injured clients, particularly those who may be unable to communicate the full extent of their suffering.
Advocacy Beyond the Accident
Landy’s work with the special needs community extends well beyond automobile accidents.
Years ago, the mother of a young man with autism contacted him after her son was allegedly mocked and verbally abused by a teacher who did not understand his behaviors.
The school initially disputed the allegations, but after the case received media attention, other parents began sharing their experiences with the same teacher in comments on a news article. Landy contacted those parents and uncovered additional information that helped him challenge the school’s defense.
But Landy remembers the case for something beyond its legal outcome.
“It was a life-changing event for this young man,” he said. “He felt very empowered afterwards. He felt stronger.”
The mother had sought Landy’s counsel because she knew of his reputation in the special needs community.
In another case, Landy secured a $1 million recovery for an Army combat veteran whose injuries from a rear-end collision affected his ability to care for his daughter with special needs.
The veteran had previously undergone back surgery after years of loading bombs onto military aircraft. The crash aggravated his back problems and required another surgery.
His daughter depended on him to lift and carry her every day, responsibilities he could no longer perform as he had before the collision.
Cases like that, he said, require an attorney to understand the full impact of an injury on a household. A claim cannot be evaluated solely by looking at medical bills, diagnoses or the physical limitations of the person who was injured. The attorney also has to understand what that person was responsible for before the injury and who depended on them.
Choosing the Right Attorney
Landy believes selecting an attorney with experience representing people with special needs can make a significant difference in the outcome of a case.
He recommends that those seeking representation explain their loved one’s background and ask prospective attorneys whether they have handled cases involving individuals with similar disabilities.
They should also ask how the attorney evaluates the damages, how those damages would be presented to an insurance company or jury, and what steps would be taken to demonstrate the full impact of the injury.
Those questions can reveal whether an attorney understands the case beyond the mechanics of a personal injury claim.
Landy’s experience as a father of a child with autism, his decades of trial experience and his background defending insurance companies have shaped the way he approaches these cases.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m incredibly passionate about these people, and they know how I like to fight for my clients to begin with,” Landy said. “When you put those two things together, it makes me a tremendously fierce advocate for the special needs population.”
Having an experienced attorney who understands the unique challenges involved in these cases can make all the difference. Call 561-655-2028 to speak with Joe Landy today.
