Kentucky

Fen-phen plaintiffs tell their side
KENTUCKY.CO,

A Lexington woman who was a plaintiff in a $200 million fen-phen class action settlement testified in federal court Tuesday that she specifically opposed plans by three lawyers in the case to donate leftover settlement money to charity.

Joyce A. Brown said that when she telephoned the Lexington law office of William Gallion to express her opposition, a woman on the phone told her that the charity plan was going through, and that she had no choice in the matter.

Another plaintiff, Connie Centers of Lawrenceburg, said no one ever discussed a charitable contribution with her.

Gallion and fellow attorneys Melbourne Mills Jr. and Shirley Allen Cunningham Jr. ultimately placed about $20 million of settlement money in a charitable foundation they created and controlled. They also paid themselves about $150,000 each to manage the fund, called the Kentucky Fund For Healthy Living.

Mills, Cunningham and Gallion are on trial in federal court for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in their handling of the settlement, which grew out of a class-action lawsuit they filed in Boone Circuit Court in 1998 against American Home Products, the company that marketed fen-phen.