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We are extremely pleased to announce that Van Sant Law has received a 2014 Avvo Clients’ Choice Award. We were also awarded this recognition in 2012 and 2013.

This award is particularly meaningful to us because it is based solely on client reviews and ratings. It is a pure reflection of what we do for the people we work for, the case results we get, and the partnerships we form. Since we are dedicated first and foremost to the needs of the families we help, receiving this award means that we are accomplishing our mission and meeting our goal of helping people resolve their personal injury claims.

Thank you to everyone who participated in these client reviews!

We all hate to believe that those meant to protect and serve us can behave in a way to harm and humiliate us, but it happens when certain police officers take advantage of or abuse their authority. We also do not want to believe that this behavior can be pervasive throughout any police agency, though this also happens.

Misconduct can take many forms, one being police brutality, often called excessive force. No officer is allowed to use more force than is necessary for the given situation. If you are being cooperative with the police and are assaulted by them for no reason of your own doing, this is beyond the authority for which they are protected.  On occasion, a person can die from this brutality and his or her family has the right to sue the police agency.

Various Types of Police Misconduct

In the wake of events such as the unrest in Ferguson, MO and the shooting death of 18-year-old Mike Brown, police actions have come under scrutiny by the general populace as well as by government agencies. Mike Brown’s death is just one instance in a series of events where the truth of what happened is mired in conflicting witness reports and lack of incontrovertible proof. Many of these unfortunate and tragic events could be avoided altogether if police officers were required to wear cameras while on duty.

There is Already Promising Evidence

The idea that police actions should be monitored is hardly new. Dashboard cameras have been in use for years to document traffic stops. More tellingly, in 2012, the city of Rialto, California introduced a program requiring all officers to wear cameras while on duty. In the first year alone, citizen complaints against officers dropped by 88%, and use of force by officers dropped by 60%. Other cities have begun their own trial programs, including Oakland, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Ft. Worth, Texas. A judge even ordered officers in one New York town to wear cameras after ruling that a department policy was unconstitutional.

Online legal forum Avvo.com has bestowed personal injury attorney David Van Sant with its Clients’ Choice Award for 2014 for his quality and excellence in personal injury accident cases. Avvo.com presents this honor each year to attorneys throughout the U.S. based on client reviews. The Clients’ Choice Award is granted depending on both the quality and quantity of reviews made about a particular attorney.

Avvo.com is a popular online legal forum that is focused on connecting potential clients with well-respected attorneys across the country. It was founded in 2007 in Seattle and contains listings and ratings for more than 90 percent of all licensed attorneys in several practice areas across the country. Avvo.com focuses on giving clients the tools needed to handle their legal matters, including free legal advice, a free lawyer directory, and the opportunity to quickly receive answers to legal questions.

Each year, Avvo.com analyzes clients’ reviews for their current or past attorneys and award the highest-ranking lawyers with the Clients’ Choice Award. The award serves to show each attorney the appreciation of their clients while giving credibility to attorneys to help them to attract new clients. Van Sant’s Avvo profile features a five-star, 10.0 “Superb” rating based on 41 client reviews as of August 2014 as well as 23 lawyer endorsements from his colleagues. Van Sant also received Avvo.com’s “Superb Rating” and “Clients Choice Award” in 2013.

Slips and falls cause millions of serious injuries every year in the United States. In fact, they may turn out to more traumatic than previously thought. New research from Johns Hopkins has determined that slip and falls have overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of traumatic spinal cord injuries in the United States.

In this study, 41.5% of spinal cord injuries were caused by slip and falls, making it the leading cause of traumatic spinal cord injuries over the 3-year study period. Motor vehicle crashes caused 35.5% of all these types of injuries, putting it in second place. Overall, spinal cord injuries caused by slip and falls increased throughout the course of the study.

Elderly Patients Especially Vulnerable to Spinal Cord Injuries

David Van Sant of Van Sant Law, in Georgia has been chosen as blue panel member after being selected as a Georgia Super Lawyer for 2014. Each year, Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers,chooses attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process. Peer evaluations and nominations are combined with third party research, and each candidate is assessed on 12 indicators of professional achievement and peer recognition. Selections are made on a state-by-state basis.

The objective is to create a comprehensive, credible, and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for consumers who may be searching for legal representation. Since Super Lawyers is intended to be used in the selection process, it limits lawyer ratings to those who can be hired by the public.

There are three basic steps involved in the Super Lawyers selection process:

On June 6, 2014, 48-year-old Dennis Marx attempted to charge the Forsyth County courthouse with the intention to “take hostages.” According to County Sheriff Duane Piper, had Marx been successful in his attempts, there would have been numerous victims of his gun violence. Fortunately, local Deputy Daniel Rush was on duty and managed to confront Marx.

Rush was working at the courthouse when he saw the former TSA employee pull up in a rental car and throw out spike strips to prevent law enforcement from reaching him. Rush saw Marx and confronted him. Marx was heavily armed at the time and shot Rush in the leg before charging the building and opening fire.

In addition to his spike strips and ammunition, Marx possessed tear gas and grenades of pepper spray which he threw liberally as he approached the courthouse. Piper also confirmed that Marx possessed homemade explosives, restraining devices, and water, which indicated his intentions to occupy the courthouse for an extended period of time. However, a SWAT team was nearby and returned fire within a minute. Marx was shot dead in front of the courthouse. There were no other victims from the incident.

On August 16, 2014, the City of Suwanee, ROCK 100.5, and will be sponsoring the August Concert and Wing Festival at Suwannee Town Park. Festival attendees will be able to indulge in cold beer and hot wings while listening to a free concert performed by Everclear, an alternative rock band whose popular songs took over the airwaves in the 1990s with hits such as “Wonderful,” “Father of Mine,” and “Santa Monica.”

Festival Events

Festival-goers should consider bringing blankets and chairs for the shows as well as wipes or towels to clean up after they partake in the many flavors of wings that will be available. Wine and beer can be purchased by licensed Town Center merchants and concert vendors. The evening will also see a celebrity wing-eating contest, and attendees will be invited to cast their votes for their favorite wings.

Van Sant Law, is proud to announce that founding attorney David M. Van Sant is a recipient of the Avvo Clients’ Choice Award for 2013. Attorney Van Sant is dedicated to providing each client with personal attention and service and to obtaining the best possible results for each case. As a result, his clients regularly give him high ratings on Avvo.

The Avvo Clients’ Choice Award is only given to attorneys who receive five or more client ratings of four or five stars. These ratings are generated by Avvo’s system by averaging the client’s ratings for the lawyer’s trustworthiness, responsiveness, knowledge, and communication. Attorney Van Sant received numerous five-star ratings from his clients and has therefore been honored as a recipient of the Avvo Clients’ Choice Award for 2013.

Contact Van Sant Law

Have you been injured by a fallen tree? Sometimes, trees will tumble because of harsh weather, a poor root system, or decay within the tree itself. These falling trees can be extremely dangerous. Sometimes, they may cause serious accidents and injuries, such as broken bones, head injuries, back injuries or more. Also, falling trees can cause extensive property damage, especially if the tree falls into a house or onto a car.

If the tree is on your own property and causes injury or damage, then you may be held liable for the accident. Yet if you live in a location that has a homeowner’s association, then the association may be responsible for failing to take care of the tree prior to the accident. This is especially true if the landscaping crew already knew that the tree was dangerous and at risk to falling over.

As well, if the tree was in a neighbor’s yard, then that individual may be held liable for any injuries resulting from the fallen tree based on premises liability. Even if you are injured by the tree after it has fallen (ex. Trip and fall accident) then you may be able to sue based on premises liability.