Cottrell lawyer eyes ex-SEC, UA chiefs 07/17/03 MIKE PERRIN News staff writer
Ronnie Cottrell's attorney intends to confront former Southeastern Conference Commissioner Roy Kramer, former University of Alabama President Andrew Sorensen and possibly current Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer for information in his effort to restore Cottrell's reputation. Asked if he would subpoena Fulmer in Cottrell and Ivy Williams' $60 million lawsuit, Thomas Gallion III of Birmingham said Wednesday, "I'm going to try. I haven't made up my mind yet because I need some more information." The subpoena would be for a deposition, since state law bars compelling trial witnesses from traveling more than 100 miles to testify in civil lawsuits, Gallion said. Gallion would question Kramer and Sorensen, among others, as he attempts to gather information for the lawsuit. The suit alleges that Cottrell and Williams were tarnished by the NCAA investigation into Alabama's recruitment of Albert Means in Memphis. Because of the investigation and an ongoing federal grand jury probe in Memphis, Gallion said Cottrell and Williams are unable to get coaching jobs at any major college. Today in Tuscaloosa, Gallion and a team of attorneys representing the defendants in the suit will meet with Circuit Court Judge Steve Wilson for a status conference. Gallion said the judge would not rule on any motions in the case today, but he expected him to set a schedule for further discovery in the suit. Conspiracy claim: In the suit, Gallion has charged the NCAA with conspiring with Kramer, Gene Marsh, Marie Robbins, Tom Culpepper and several University of Tennessee boosters to "... go after the football program at the University of Alabama." The NCAA, its Committee on Infractions Chairman Thomas E. Yeager, investigator Richard A. Johannegmeier, UA faculty athletics representative Marsh, former compliance officer Robbins, freelance recruiting analyst Culpepper and attorney Richard Hilliard, who represented UA in the NCAA investigation, are named in the suit. "We're just starting," Gallion said. "It's going to be a bone-chiller if it comes out like I figure. If not, well, at least we got it out on the table." Gallion said before he took Cottrell's case he asked Cottrell to take a lie-detector test. "I sent Ronnie to Richard Ratliff, the No.1 polygraph expert in the country, and I wouldn't take his case until he took that test. I didn't believe him, either. I'd been brainwashed." ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
