Students seeking to sue Life overwhelm lawyer

MARIETTA ã Deluged with over 100 Life University students who are 
suing the school for losing  
12/04/02

By Phillip Giltman
MDJ Staff Writer
 
MARIETTA ã Deluged with over 100 Life University students who are 
suing the school for losing its chiropractic accreditation, a local attorney is 
turning to two other law firms for assistance.
„I needed more manpower because of the volume of work that needs to be 
done,¾ Roswell attorney and former Life professor Dr. Joseph Hoffman 
said.
Hoffman filed a class-action lawsuit Oct. 31 against Life¼s founder Dr. Sid 
Williams, the institution and 14 past and present Board of Trustee 
members. When the suit was filed on Halloween, Hoffman said he had 75 
students.
„That number has doubled to approximately 150 students, and we are 
getting additional phone calls on a daily basis,¾ he said Tuesday.
Asserting similar allegations, Marietta attorneys Scott and Pelham 
Anderson filed a class-action lawsuit against the university on Oct. 16 and 
said Tuesday that they had 155 students signed up, a number they expect to 
grow to about 200 by the end of the month.
Because of their „vast experience¾ with class-action lawsuits, Hoffman said 
he has associated Kaplan and Seifter and Smolar, Sakas and Goodhart, both 
based out of Atlanta, to assist him with the litigation.
„With the size of my firm, the students might have been harmed if I would 
have kept the suit to myself,¾ he said. „Between those two firms and 
myself, I feel we have everything it takes to win.¾
Attorney Brad Kaplan said he agreed with Hoffman¼s decision and hopes 
more students sign up to make their case stronger.
„We are looking for as many students as possible,¾ he said. „This is a very 
large and a very expensive case, and (Hoffman) wisely supplemented his 
skills with those of other experienced lawyers.¾
Should they win the case, Hoffman said he did not have a problem with 
splitting the award three ways.
„My number one interest is for the students, and I¼m willing to make less 
money in order for that end to be served,¾ he said.
The lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court by Hoffman and 
Kennesaw attorney Tommy Lee Maddox, alleges Williams, the university 
itself and 14 past and current board of trustee members breached a contract 
with students by failing to maintain Life¼s chiropractic accreditation.
Hoffman said earlier that he is only seeking monetary damages for his 
clients, and he hopes the case will be heard by a 12-member jury.
„We are asking for a jury trial, but it is up to the jury to decide what to 
reward the plaintiffs,¾ he said earlier. „It will certainly be in the tens of 
millions of dollars though.¾
Students pay an average of $13,000 per year to attend what was once the 
world¼s largest chiropractic program.
Hoffman said Yehuda Smolar, of Smolar, Sakas and Goodhart, will serve 
as lead counsel in the case, but doesn¼t expect the case to go to trial for 
another three years.
Smolar was unavailable for comment Tuesday evening.
Life University lost its chiropractic accreditation on June 10 and a three-
member panel from the Council on Chiropractic Education voted on Oct. 
20 to refuse to lift the revocation.
Following Life¼s loss, the university has seen its chiropractic student 
enrollment plummet from 2,600 in the spring to 700 as of Nov. 24.
Life¼s newly appointed president Dr. Ben DeSpain told hundreds of 
students at an assembly last month that the university would have to wait 
until June 2004 before applying for accreditation.
Adding that the institution is fully capabale of remaining financially afloat, 
DeSpain said he hopes the school¼s chiropractic program will be re-
accredited by January of 2005.
pgiltman@mdjonline.com