Legal Ethics
Fen-Phen Client Testifies She ‘Smelled a Rat’
Posted May 20, 2008, 08:07 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A former client of three fen-phen lawyers testified she “smelled a rat” when they wouldn’t turn over documents supporting her settlement.
Former client Tracy Curtis testified in the Covington, Ky., trial of lawyers Shirley Cunningham Jr., William Gallion and Melbourne Mills Jr., the Courier-Journal reports. They are charged with conspiracy to commit fraud for allegedly keeping $45 million in settlement money for themselves in the diet drug class action.
Curtis testified that "it just didn't feel right" after she was told she would be paid $25,000, minus attorney fees, but given no paperwork to support the payout, the article says.
Curtis later sought the paperwork in a series of letters and phone calls in 2001. "Your failure to provide me this information is starting to raise a suspicion that maybe things were handled in an inappropriate manner," she wrote.
The judge threatened to clear the courtroom after observers applauded his decision to let Curtis testify about her frustration with the lawyers.
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