Legal Ethics
Two Coughlin Stoia Lawyers Linked to Contingency-Paid Witness
Posted Mar 5, 2008, 07:49 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Two securities class action lawyers who jumped to Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins have been linked to an expert witness who pleaded guilty last week to perjury. The plea settled allegations the witness was paid on a contingency basis by the lawyers' prior firm, giving him an incentive to inflate shareholders' damages.
ABAJournal.com broke the news last week that the witness, John B. Torkelsen, pleaded guilty in connection with a 1999 case handled by Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, the New York law firm now facing charges it paid kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. Court documents hinted at more widespread wrongdoing, saying Torkelsen was retained in multiple cases by “several different law firms.”
The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports today that two Coughlin Stoia lawyers were involved in the case when they worked at Milberg Weiss: Patrick Coughlin and Keith Park.
Park had filed a sworn declaration in the Milberg case that asked the court to reimburse expenses for experts, including expenses submitted by Torkelsen’s firm, Princeton Venture Research Inc., the Wall Street Journal story says. Coughlin filed a sworn statement seeking approval for a settlement and for reimbursement of Milberg Weiss’ expenses, the newspaper reports.
The two lawyers have not been charged or accused of wrongdoing. Another Coughlin Stoia lawyer who formerly worked at Milberg Weiss, William Lerach, has pleaded guilty to allegations of paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. He has since resigned from his new firm. The newspaper story says that as part of the Lerach plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Coughlin or Park in connection with the work of a "Princeton" damages expert for Milberg Weiss or Coughlin Stoia.
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