Cole & Hens-Greco, P.C.

My name is Nelson Gaugler. I read the review of attorney James Cole written by SittingBull and I feel the need to make some observations. First let me say that I have been practicing law for 24 years, and almost all of that time has been devoted exclusively to civil trial work, so I know my way around a courtroom. Second, I was one of the defense lawyers involved in the trial to which SittingBull is referring in his review and I was present during the entire trial and I also participated fully in all phases of pretrial investigation, discovery, etc. With that background, I will address some of the points made in SittingBull's review. While it is true that the case took quite some time to come to trial, Mr. Cole did not become involved in the case until two years after the accident. I will also say it was a complicated case and such cases take time to prepare properly, and there were also several other lawyers involved and the more lawyers involved the longer things take. As for the outcome of the trial, there is no question that it did not end well for SittingBull, who I believe was one of the passengers in the car. A little background is necessary to understand the situation. SittingBull was a passenger in a car being driven by a teenage boy with two other teenage boys as passengers, for a total of four occupants in the car. As the teenage driver was rounding a right hand curve he encountered a car coming in the opposite direction and there was a violent head-on collision. The critical question at trial was which vehicle was across the center line, SittingBull's driver or the other car. The physical evidence showed that the accident unquestionably happened well into the other driver's lane of travel. SittingBull's driver claimed that the other driver was partially in his lane and so he (the teenage driver) swerved to the left to try to avoid the collision and that was his explanation for why the accident happened in the other lane of travel. The investigating police officer put all of the responsibility for the accident on SittingBull's driver, and one of the boys stated at the scene that their driver had lost control of the car. It was obvious to me that the jury simply did not accept the teen driver's explanation and had instead concluded that the teenage driver took the turn too wide and crossed the center line. This was a very difficult case to win from SittingBull's perspective and it is understandable that he is disappointed at the outcome. However, it is not at all fair for him to blame Mr. Cole for the loss, nor to accuse Mr. Cole of collusion with the defense, which most assuredly did not happen. In my professional opinion Mr. Cole did an excellent job with a poor case, and I was quite impressed with his skill, knowledge and courtroom presentation. SittingBull was very well represented.