The Anatomy of a Litigation Bully

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Sovereign v. Buschel –

This article is written with the permission of Leonard L. Buschel, the target of Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center, Inc., better known as Sovereign Health, a true litigation bully.1 Leonard was a target, not a victim because he had the courage to stand up to the pressure of Tonmoy Sharma and Sovereign filing a frivolous law suit against him and Writers In Treatment, Inc.

The eBulletin, is a publication that provides third party news and announcements to the addiction and recovery field. This information is important to those of us who are providing recovery services. The articles can be educational, thought provoking and in some instances provocative. Like all forms of mass communication on the internet, the reader is free to make up his or her own mind about the content and the trustworthiness of the actual author of the article.

These third party publications of articles that discuss what is going on in the addiction and recovery field are vital. Knowing when a program may have diverted from ethical or legal standards is highly relevant when you are making a decision about where to refer to. This balance is needed to offset the onslaught of press releases, marketing materials and salespeople who are appearing at conferences weekly.

Apparently Mr. Sharma, the CEO of Sovereign did not like the truth about his loss of a medical license in Great Briton for fraudulently conducting drug tests on homeless, nor the fact that he did not have a Ph.D., as he told people.2 Nor did he like the fact that Sovereign was under investigation for violating state law by providing addiction treatment in unlicensed houses.3

This lawsuit was a cowardly act by desperate people eager to hide their misconduct. The obvious goal of the lawsuit was to punish Leonard while serving as a warning to others that Sovereign was run by vindictive and petty little people willing waste untold sums of money to intimidate others. This lawsuit was known to be frivolous by Sovereign when it was filed.

The Background of the suit: