Lawyerly Lairs: Greta Van Susteren and John Coale’s Big Apple Crash Pad
Lawyer-turned-news-anchoress Greta Van Susteren, and her husband, Washington lawyer John Coale, have snagged themselves a nice piece of Manhattan real estate. Yes, they’re based in DC. But when they visit NYC, they can enjoy this pied-a-terre (as described in the New York Observer):
The host of Fox’s On the Record and her husband, a D.C. lawyer, dropped $2.57 million for a 1,582-square-foot apartment on the site of the former Studebaker Building on Broadway at 48th Street after selling their Central Park South condo this summer.
The old place, they said, was cramped; their new one has two bedrooms and a private terrace.
“The problem with that place is that we had no windows,” Mr. Coale said of their old Essex House digs. While their new condo, at 1600 Broadway, offers all the Blade Runner glory of Times Square, he said, the Essex apartment’s view opened up “into the back of another building.”
“You look out and you see Times Square!” said Ms. Van Susteren. “What can I say, how can you not love Times Square?”
When she was lured over to Fox News several years ago, Van Susteren snagged a salary of almost seven figures. That’s more than enough to cover mortgage payments on a $2.6 million apartment (although the couple also has other real estate holdings, including a D.C. home and a condo in Clearwater, Florida).
And what about her hubby — what does he do? As it turns out, Coale isn’t with any of the Biglaw D.C. firms. Rather, he’s a plaintiffs’ lawyer. More about him, after the jump.
John Coale’s website is available here. But it’s far more interesting to read the harsh critiques of Coale, like this one (entitled “John Coale, Ambulance Chaser”). Or these comments, from the National Review:
John Coale, [Van Susteren’s] husband as well as her law partner, is a self-described “ambulance chaser” and has enthusiastically earned himself one of the most nefarious reputations in the country. In 1984 he acquired the nickname “Bhopal Coale” by being the first lawyer to hop on a plane to India to sign up gas-leak victims who couldn’t even read their retainer documents.
American Lawyer magazine called him “a symbol for everything wrong with the plaintiff’s bar.” In 1987 the same magazine awarded Coale its Most Frivolous Suit Award: He had sued his tailor, on the grounds that the sub-par work on his shirts had subjected him to “public humiliation . . . severe emotional distress, and embarrassment.” The West Virginia Bar tried to disbar both John Coale and Greta Van Susteren for their allegedly unethical behavior in soliciting the families of coal-mine accident victims, among others.
Well, hey — it’s a living. We’d whore ourselves out for a lot less than a million-dollar condo.
Greta’s Grabbo: Fox News Valkyrie Drops $2.57 M. on Times Square Aerie [New York Observer]
1600 Broadway [official website]
John Coale [official website]
Regrettable Van Susteren [National Review]
http://www.abovethelaw.com/2006/08/lawyerly_lairs_greta_van_suste.php
Thanks nature. Never liked Greta and never will. She just twists in the wind...trying to stay alive. Ambulance chaser and her show are similar....she chases anything as long as she can stay in busines. I really do think her days are numbered.
AHHA!
I said all along Greta has some ax to grind against Rita..
no matter how hard Greta tried, she didn’t make #1 ..
RITA DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2006/01/natalee200601
And make no mistake: Natalee Holloway has been very, very good for cable television. Van Susteren all but moved her show to Aruba this summer and saw her ratings jump nearly 60 percent. The case helped Rita Cosby leap to No. 1 at MSNBC.
http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2006/01/natalee200601