[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_4″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
[/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”3_4″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][fusion_text]By Mark Curriden
(Oct. 19) – As the best lawyers in the U.S. crowded into an East Texas courtroom to negotiate a multibillion-dollar global asbestos settlement known as the Fiberboard Corp. case, one lawyer had doubts about the legality of such a broad deal.
The federal judge had appointed Jim Coleman in 1995 to represent a class of plaintiffs even as the defendants and their insurance companies faced near certain bankruptcy from tens-of-thousands of personal injury lawsuits.
“Jimmy convinced the insurance companies, who were absolutely certain that the courts would approve the settlement, to agree to pay $1.5 billion to those who were suffering from mesothelioma even if the federal courts eventually rejected the global deal,” says John Martin, Coleman’s partner at Carrington Coleman.
Coleman’s legal analysis was correct. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected the settlement in 1999, which sent asbestos litigation into chaos.
“Thanks to Jimmy,” Martin says, “the victims received at least some money from the insurance companies.”
For more than six decades, Jim Coleman has represented Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Uniroyal, John Deere and nearly every insurance company and bank in Texas in hundreds of trials.
He won a multi-billion-dollar trial for Oscar Wyatt’s Coastal States in 1972, when billion-dollar cases were unheard of. Thirty years later, in 2001, Enron Chairman Ken Lay made Coleman one of his first calls when he saw trouble coming.
Scores of lawyers called him for help when they were in trouble. He fired clients when he learned they weren’t telling the truth or when they hid evidence from the court or when they refused to work with some of his lawyers just because they were women. Judges openly admit that legal briefs with his name on them have greater influence. Just about every award ever presented for professionalism, integrity, community service and justice are hanging on his wall.
Simply put, Jim Coleman may be the most respected lawyer in Texas. No lawyer has influenced the legal profession or lawyers more.
“Jim is the model of what every lawyer should be,” says U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn. “He is the best lawyer I have ever known or will ever know.”
As a young associate, Lynn handled a matter for a major firm client when she discovered the client was withholding documents despite a court order to produce them.
“I told the client that I would not represent him if he continued to hide the documents,” Lynn says. “The client demanded to speak with Jim, but Jim completely supported me and my position. He was willing to lose the client rather than compromise his integrity. That is Jim Coleman.”
Days after Japan attached Pearl Harbor in Dec. 1941, Coleman enlisted in the Army, where he served as a platoon leader and Second Lieutenant and marched through Europe with Patton’s Third Army. He was later awarded the Silver Star.
While attending the University of Virginia School of Law in 1951, the Army ordered Coleman to report to a specific street address in Washington, D.C. But when he took a taxi to the address, the driver took him to the U.S. Government Printing Office.
“I started arguing with the taxi driver that this couldn’t be the building, but he insisted it was the right address,” he says. “I went inside and learned that it was really the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Coleman worked for the CIA for two years, but he declines to discuss his efforts for the agency.
“Even my wife never knew what I did,” he says.
When the Korean conflict ended, Coleman moved to Texas where he joined Carrington, Gowan, Johnson & Walker as a lawyer in the firm’s real estate contracts practice. His salary: $200 a month.
Coleman says he took every opportunity to be in the courtroom, even volunteering to take over cases from his colleagues.
In 1971, he handled his first bet-the-company trial when he represented Coastal States Gas Company, which had been founded by Oscar Wyatt. The energy company sold gas to cities such as San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi for about a dime a gallon.
When OPEC cut production and raised prices by 70 percent, Wyatt convinced the Texas Railroad Commission to allow Coastal to raise its rates. San Antonio refused to pay and instead sued Coastal. Coastal countersued. Several billion dollars in damages were at stake.
“We were getting killed in the press, saying this was the worst issue to ever hit San Antonio – worse than the Alamo,” Coleman says. “The judge down there treated us like a country dog come to town.”
Coleman essentially moved to San Antonio, staying in a hotel room on the river for more than a year.
A key moment during the trial came when the plaintiff’s star witness, the mayor of San Antonio, took the witness stand to testify against Coastal.
Under a blistering cross-examination by Coleman, the mayor became confused, provided testimony that conflicted with his own earlier statements, refused to answer some questions and clearly demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the facts.
“Judge, he’s not answering my question. He’s not responsive. He’s believing in the tooth fairy,” Coleman repeatedly told the judge. “We had to prove that they had no cause of action in Bexar County because we were doing business there. We slowly started seeing the judge move to our side.”
Lawyers for both sides noticed that the judge was slowly changing his position in favor of Coastal States, leading San Antonio officials to agree to settle the case on terms very favorable to Coastal States.
“I can’t tell you what all the characteristics are of a great lawyer,” says Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, “but I can point to Jim Coleman and say with absolute confidence that he has all of them.”[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]