Originally published on DeSmogBlog, co-authored by Richard Littlemore.
Affidavits filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court libel litigation brought by climate scientist Michael Mann against climate science denier Timothy Ball reveal that Ball's collaborator and self-styled "legal advisor" has misrepresented his credentials and endured some significant legal embarrassments of his own.
The affidavits also reveal that Tim Ball was "aware of the charges against John O'Sullivan almost from the start" and has tried to distance himself from his erstwhile advisor and writing partner.
The affidavits [1, 2] come from research of science and medical writer Andrew Skolnick, who documents O'Sullivan's misrepresentations, backtracking and questionable behavior.
Tim Ball and John O'Sullivan had a close working relationship, even before Mann sued Ball for libel in March 2011. For example, they co-authored the climate science denial book Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory, which was published in 2010.
Skolnick's evidence shows that O'Sullivan made a series of false claims, including:
One affidavit includes an online comment in which O'Sullivan says, "For your information, I am a retired academic and I have litigated personally or assisted others in pro se litigation at every level of court there is in New York State as well as Federal level, for over a decade and never lost."
Although O'Sullivan admits in this particular comment that he is not, in fact, licensed to practice law, in the U.S. or the U.K., he adds, "I'm just some Brit with a brain who can go live with his American wife in her country and kick ass big time around a courtroom."
Certainly, O'Sullivan was successful in winning an acquittal when he was personally charged in England as a high school teacher accused of sending lewd text messages and assaulting a 16-year-old female. Given the acquittal, it would not generally be appropriate to bring up this sordid and unproven bit of history, except that O'Sullivan himself went on to write an "erotic" "novel" with a startlingly similar storyline: Vanilla Girl: a Fact-Based Crime Story of a Teacher's Struggle to Control His Erotic Obsession with a Schoolgirl.
Although eager to present himself as a science researcher of accomplishment -- certainly Tim Ball's equal -- Skolnick's research found that O'Sullivan is highly prone to error, whether intentional or not.
This information emerged, and became relevant to this most recent libel action against Tim Ball, in part because Ball himself, in his Response to Civil Claim, stated that his communications with O'Sullivan were subject to solicitor-client privilege.
Mann then filed a reply, pointing out the facts documented in Skolnick's affidavits. As Mann's lawsuit proceeds, the court will inevitably rule on Ball's claim for "solicitor-client" privilege.
In the meantime, Ball has not submitted any affidavit from O'Sullivan attesting to his qualifications as Ball's legal advisor. If he did, O'Sullivan would be subject to cross-examination by Michael Mann's lawyer.
Follow Brendan DeMelle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bdemelle
Oh snap.. MM is taken apart.
On behalf of the New York County Lawyers' Association (NYCLA), we would like to clarify that O'Sullivan was a provisional member of the Association, which noted on NYCLA's web site, is a type of member who has not yet been admitted to practice law.
http://www.nycla.org/index.cfm?section=ABOUT_NYCLA&page=BY-LAWS
I think it's obvious that John O'Sullivan's "alma matta" -- an online diploma mill that sells any degree in any field with promised "free express delivery in 15 days" -- is not "a law school accredited by the American Bar Association."
Mr. O'Sullivan did not join as a law student. He joined as a Provisional Member, which NYCLA bylaws say are recent law school graduates who have not yet been admitted to the Bar, but intend to practice law in the NY State, for up to 3 years, as long as they continue "seeking admission to practice law in NY State." I will examine the facts behind this affair in a future report.
1) Is John O'Sullivan - or was he ever- a full member at NYCLA? Did NYCLA vet his application credentials to discover his bogus, non-ABA-accredited "Hill University" law degree and inaccurate contact information?
2) NYCLA uses past tense in this comment, stating that O'Sullivan "was a provisional member." Does this mean that NYCLA's review determined that he was not eligible for membership?
3) Has NYCLA told John O'Sullivan to cease claiming to be a member, as he continues to do? If not, why not? Here is his current LinkedIn page, claiming NYCLA membership: "O’Sullivan is a member of the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA)..." http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-o-sullivan/19/6b4/84a
NYCLA, please respond to these simple questions. As a respected institution, you owe it to the public, and your other members, to clarify the status of John O'Sullivan. Thank you!
You are a liar and you intentionally promote the lies and fabricated evidence of others. I challenge you to prove your claims in court.
http://johnosullivan.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/desmogblog-fail-with-pop-gun-character-assassination-ploy/#comment-728
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has another description for Prof. Manuel. Yesterday morning, after much sleuthing, I discovered the public record I've been looking for:
http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/CJ38/OffenderDetails?page=0&column=name&id=1097755&lastName=Manuel&suffix=&firstName=Oliver&middleName=Keith
However Swift's great classic, "A Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being Aburden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public," only proposed eating children.
Some Sky Dragon Slayers have other ideas what to do with them -- as their leader clearly articulates in his fact-based novel "Vanilla Girl."
http://cupboard55vanillagirl.blogspot.com/
Members of the Pakistani parliament, scientists, and students alike watched in awe as Waqar Ahmad, a Pakistani engineer, successfully demonstrated a working water powered car in Islamabad. With just one liter of water, Ahmad claims a 1000 cc car could cover a distance of 40 km, or a motorbike could travel 150 km.
Ahmad's 'Water Fuel Kit Project' utilizes a hydrogen bonding technique with distilled water, creating hydrogen to power the vehicle. If realized on a massive scale, Ahmad's invention could seriously challenge the current energy paradigm, and could usher in a new way of thinking about energy in general.
First reported today by the Times of India, the promising exhibition took place on Thursday, as a Pakistani cabinet subcommittee member praised the technology. A stunned audience sat in astonishment when Religious Affairs minister, Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, proclaimed Ahmad's water car was
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/Final%20Investigation%20Report.pdf
I think that you'll find that you are misinformed about the Penn state process.
You are also misinformed about the "overweighting" of tree rings. Here is a link to all Dr. Mann's published papers: http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~mann/Mann/research/research.php
This is a link to a discussion of recent tree rings studies. Scroll down for a graph which shows Mann et al's 2008 study and what happens when tree ring data is removed. (The temp trend stays the same.) http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/07/tree-rings-and-climate-some-recent-developments/
And here is a link to a discussion of criticism of Mann Bradley Hughes 1999: http://thedgw.org/definitionsOut/..%5Cdocs%5CWahl_ClimChange2007.pdf
You are, of course, trying to insinuate that Dr. Mann has done something wrong. He hasn't. Come back when you know what you're talking about.
http://live.psu.edu/pdf/Final_Investigation_Report.pdf
All of Mann's climate research is here: http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~mann/Mann/research/research.php
The third graph down in this link shows that eliminating tree ring data doesn't change the results of Mann's 2008 reconstructions: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/07/tree-rings-and-climate-some-recent-developments/
A discussion of criticisms of MBH 1999 here: http://thedgw.org/definitionsOut/..%5Cdocs%5CWahl_ClimChange2007.pdf
Face it, Michael Mann hasn't done anything wrong. He's the target of a vicious campaign by science deniers aiming at his personal destruction.
You are seriously going to use the PSU investigation as your standard of exoneration for Michael Mann? Incredible. The report was a complete and absolute white-wash. NO data was reviewed! Only emails were reviewed, along with a few soft-ball questions to Michael Mann. Before they even interviewed Lindzen, they stated the first three allegations during the inquiy stage of the RA-10 process against Michael Mann were dismissed. To which Lindzen replied: It is thoroughly amazing. I mean these are the issues that he explicitly stated in the emails. I'm wondering whats going on?
It was a BS investigation like the other infamous PSU investigation. The fact you have the temerity to post that link as an exoneration of Michael Mann is simply incredible.
As for the 4th charge - That he had somehow deviated from standard research practice - Since Mann is a skilled researcher with a long history of scrutiny by various funding agencies, that charge is incredible on its face.
It amounts to a complaint by Steve McIntyre (a non-scientist blogger whose academic cred is an undergraduate degree in math) that Mann dissed him by referring him to the website where Mann's code was posted rather than personally answering McIntyre's questions himself.
Clearly that 4th charge is baseless.
It's fairly clear that, long after the scientists have been cleared of any wrongdoing, the denialist industry wants to keep milking the stolen emails. The fact that you guys keep pimping the work product of criminals shows that you have nothing in the way of science on your side.
I am looking forward to the day, some time in the future, when the people who are standing in the way of the science get their just deserts. Maybe all the politicians and political radicals who think that climate change is a joke will be rounded up and sent to some southern desert (pun intended) state to live. Maybe all the people who have stood in the way of science can be encouraged to go south and stay there. Take your Hummers and Corvettes and go to the land that fossil fuel exhaust helped create. More than a state of mind! More like Gehenna with each passing year!
'John acts as legal consultant to Canada’s most prominent climatologist, Dr. Tim Ball, who is currently defending libel suits in the British Columbia Supreme Court against fellow climate researchers, Dr. Michael Mann and Dr. Andrew Weaver.'
Fellow climate researchers?
Not only does O'Sullivan grossly inflate his own status as a lawyer, he attempts to elevate Dr. Ball (a doctor of geography) to the level of two of the most prominent and well respected climatologists.
(first of all, it's fitting that he would have a mythical fire breathing dragon prominently displayed on his front page banner.)
'Mann Losing Confidence in his Canadian Legal Team?'
'That case (against Dr. Tim Ball) isn’t going well for Mann because he appears to be stalling about complying with a court motion to hand over his hidden “dirty laundry†metadata to courtroom scrutiny. The British Columbia Supreme Court, where the case is currently being heard, has the right to order Mann to reveal all such withheld data. If Mann persists in failing to comply the court may find him in contempt and dismiss his case and award substantial damages in favor of Ball.'
http://johnosullivan.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/breaking-climate-scientist-michael-mann-lawyers-up-after-penn-state-child-sex-link/
Like most denialist claims, the above passage is a complete fabrication:
'The Supreme Court of BC has issued no such order. It will be interesting to see what Prof. Mann's attorneys will do with this.'
http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2012/07/john-osullivan-my-hidden-muse.html
O'Sullivan had joined the American Bar Association as an "associate" -- which are non-members affiliated with the ABA. Although the ABA makes it clear members must be lawyers licensed to practice in the U.S., O'Sullivan was falsely advertising himself as a "member of the American Bar Association" -- until I blew the whistle on him with the general counsel of the ABA. He then switched to advertising himself as a member of the NYCLA.
Last November, the NYCLA membership office confirmed that O'Sullivan had become a member late in October and had joined in their "provisional member" category -- which is free to recent law school graduates who have not yet joined the bar. But Mr. O'Sullivan never went to law school -- at least not one accredited by any legitimate educational agency. The "degree" cited in his NYCLA membership application is from the online diploma mill "Hill University," which sells customers any degree in any field they want with promised "free express delivery in 15 days!"
I brought all of this evidence to the attention of the NYCLA last November. They promised to thoroughly investigate and get back to me in a couple of weeks. It's been 8 months and I'm still waiting.