U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Fen-Phen Lawyers’ Appeal of $42M Kentucky Verdict

A $42 million judgment against a group of former attorneys will stand after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal in the case.

The justices on Tuesday rejected a request from now-disbarred lawyers William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills to consider reversing the Kentucky Supreme Court, which reinstated the verdict in favor of a group of 431 people sickened by the diet drug fen-phen.

The former clients sued Gallion, Cunningham and Mills in 2005, claiming the lawyers mishandled a massive settlement stemming from litigation over the diet drug and improperly kept a significant portion of the funds for themselves.

Gallion and Cunningham are serving federal prison sentences after being convicted of bilking their clients out of millions from the settlement.