While checking Ritalin stories, I stumbled upon John P Coale, partner in the Washington law firm Coale, Cooley, Lietz, McInerny & Broadus P.C..

He's not only the lawyer who represented Lisa Marie Presly in her divorce from Michael Jackson, but he's also one of the lawyers involved in the tobacco law suits. He reached a deal whereby the tobacco companies would pay $368.5 billion over 25 years and agree to FDA oversight and marketing restrictions in exchange for some protections from lawsuits. See http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/bigtobacco/tobacco29c.htm Currently, he's suing gun manufacturers and is doing the class action suit against Novartis (who produce Ritalin) and CHADD (an organisation for children and adults diagnosed with ADHD).

He also happens to be married to Greta van Susteren, the CNN based Scientology lawyer. Incidentally, CNN has been rather instrumental in creating the current worry over the prescription of Ritalin and its abuse by non-ADHD children and youngsters.

While researching him, I came across a couple of interesting facts, and some ditto statements by Mr Coale himself. I present the lot here for your edification. I've seen the first story previously on a.r.s., but the Coale quotes are new to me - and rather interesting.

Coale and Van Susteren found guilty of ambulance chasing:

http://www.lawyersgunsandmoney.com/coale.htm "As of April 1996, Coale, his wife Greta Van Susteren - who is also his partner in a law firm, and the law firm were all the subject of serious bar disciplinary proceedings in West Virginia, whose state bar's discipline board was seeking to suspend their right to practice law in West Virginia for a year as a result of soliciting prospective clients in ways prohibited by bar rules, generally referred to by the public as "ambulance-chasing"; in Coale's case, the term seems particularly appropriate because one of the incidents that landed him in trouble was his law firm's employee allegedly trying to chat up a severely-burned man in an intensive-care unit."

"By the end of 1996, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia had ruled that Coale and his wife were both guilty of professional misconduct in such solicitations, stating:

'Accordingly, we find that respondents Allen, Coale, and Van Susteren engaged in professional misconduct by inducing others to initiate the improper telephone solicitations which we found violative of Rules 7.3(a) and 7.3(b)(1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.'"

http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/TopSep96.htm The ruling against the odd couple:

Lawyer Disciplinary Board v. Phillip B. Allen, John P.

Coale, and Greta Van Susteren, No. 22700 (W. Va., November 15, 1996)(Albright, J.): ___ W. Va. ___, 479 S.E.2d 317 Reluctantly dismissing ethics charges against out-of-state lawyers for improper solicitation of clients in West Virginia, the Court held that while the evidence clearly supported the Disciplinary Board's finding that the respondents' conduct violated the Rules 7.1(c), 7.3(a), 7.3(b)(1), and 8.4(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, the Court did not have jurisdiction to discipline them because the misconduct occurred at a time when only persons "regularly engaged in the practice of law" in West Virginia were subject to professional discipline under Article VI, 4 of the West Virginia State Bar Constitution and By-Laws.

Coale *likes* to be called an ambulance chaser:

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9510/public.html "I am a pirate," Mr. Coale said proudly. "I have been described as an ambulance chaser, and I don't disagree."

Coale on frivolous law suits:

http://cox.house.gov/press/coverage/2000/businessins.htm "WASHINGTON -- Federal and state judges need to be more willing to throw out frivolous lawsuits, a plaintiffs attorney contended during a discussion of class-action law last week.

Few judges "have the guts" to dismiss frivolous cases, said John P. Coale, partner in the Washington law firm Coale, Cooley, Lietz, McInerny & Broadus P.C.

"It's their job. They're the ones who should slap down the lawyers, and they don't do it," Mr. Coale said during the discussion, which was sponsored by the National Assn. of Manufacturers."

Perhaps Mr Coale might be invoked to tell Scientology the same. After all, this so-called church is known for its frivolous law suits....


Coale on Bush:

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38dd7cac6ecc.htm http://www.nypost.com/commentary/34175.htm "It would be very, very horrifying to trial lawyers if Bush were elected".

Trial Lawyers Pour Money Into Democrats' Chests Now that they have triumphed over the tobacco industry, trial lawyers have found a new target, Gov. George W. Bush, and they have been spending huge amounts of money from the tobacco settlement to keep him and other Republicans from being elected.

To trial lawyers, especially those involved in the tobacco litigation, Mr. Bush has become their worst nightmare. He has made attacks on lawyers a campaign centerpiece, pointing with pride to his record in Texas of curbing civil litigation, capping legal fees and limiting jury awards.

It has all been under the banner of tort reform, or what Mr. Bush said were efforts to rid the legal system of junk lawsuits.

The lawyers who have specialized in bringing civil lawsuits, however, saw Mr. Bush's statements not only as a threat to their livelihood, but also to their ability to hold corporate America legally accountable for its actions.

To that end, while trial lawyers have long been heavy Democratic Party donors, the prospect of a Bush candidacy, along with the possibility that like-minded Republicans would retain control of Congress, has ratcheted up the stakes, and the donations.

"It would be very, very horrifying to trial lawyers if Bush were elected," said John P. Coale, a Washington lawyer involved in the tobacco litigation, who has given over $70,000 to the Democrats. "To combat that, we want to make sure we have a Democratic president, House and Senate. There is some serious tobacco money being spread around."

http://www.wesg.org/sponsorscontent.html Coale sponsors WESG for more than 10,000 USD. WESG: Women Executives in State Government

Coale sues the FBI for Waco http://oldster.future.easyspace.com/Waco101.html [the text is badly written; it appears as if *Coale's* wife had died there, while actually he was representing Stan Sylvia, according to Tilman's Celebrity FAQ.]
More ambulance chasing:

http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/include.pl/news/flt990/1105d.htm (Egypt Air Flight 990 disaster)



groet, Karin Spaink -- I write, therefore I am:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/

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