Cincinnati Court Of Appeals Hears Fen-Phen Case

{Cincinnati, Ohio}...Judge Ronnie Lee Gilman of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said Tuesday that the way former attorneys 60 year old William Gallion and 57 year old Shirley Cunningham Jr. handled the 2001 fen-phen settlement, including distributing only $40 million to clients initially, doesn't help their cause. Judge Gilman said Gallion and Cunningham may have a valid point about the trial judge making an error, but it looks wrong that they took the bulk of the $200 million settlement for themselves. Gilman said the lawyers are getting 75 percent of the settlement and the clients are getting 25 percent. The former attorneys are serving prison time for scamming more than 400 clients of $94.6 million won against American Home Products. Fen-phen was pulled from the market after users had heart problems related to the drug. Prosecutors say they illegally kept the bulk of the settlement, but made more money available to their clients after the federal government began a criminal investigation. The panel took the case under advisement and did not issue an immediate ruling. Cunningham's attorney, Clifton Harviel, told the judges that U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves made multiple errors during the trial, depriving the men of a fair trial. Gallion's attorney, Louis Sirkin, told the panel that Reeves allowed jurors to see 22 findings made by the Kentucky Supreme Court against Gallion and Cunningham, even though the high court never held a hearing. Judge Eric Clay wasn't impressed with the argument.