Fen-Phen Plaintiffs Seek Curlin Victory
Plaintiffs who claim their lawyers defrauded them out of money due in a pharmaceutical settlement are betting that a horse will help them recover some of the money.
Lawyers William J. Gallion and Shirley A. Cunningham Jr. paid $57,000 to buy a one-fifth interest in Curlin, the horse that won the Preakness Stakes. In February they sold their interest for $3.5 million, the New York Times reports.
The lawyers were among those found liable in a civil suit brought by more than 400 plaintiffs who say they were defrauded out of $64.4 million in settlement proceeds from a suit against the makers of the diet drug fen-phen, according to the newspaper.
Lawyer Angela M. Ford, who represents most of the plaintiffs, claims the lawyers bought their interest in the horse with her clients’ money and had no legal right to sell it. Ford expects a ruling on damages in the civil suit within a few weeks.
