Two More Trial Lawyers Join A Rogues Gallery Of Sleaze
October 27, 2008
Trial lawyers like to pretend they’re fighting to protect the little guy, but the case of two disgraced Kentucky trial lawyers demonstrates yet again that the real motivation behind most mega-torts is plain old greed. William Gallion and Shirley Allen Cunningham, Jr. were sentenced last week to the legal profession’s equivalent of life without parole after the Kentucky Supreme Court ordered them disbarred, with no possibility of reinstatement, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader (Hat Tip: Overlawyered.)
Federal charges are still pending against the two for pocketing “more than $104 million out of the $200 million settlement that should have gone to more than 440 former clients” in the massive fen-phen diet drug class action. In the disbarment hearing, attorneys Gallion and Cunningham admitted that they:
… failed to inform their clients in writing about fee arrangements in the fen-phen settlement; failed to tell clients that they were seeking fees greater than contingency fee arrangements provided; failed to advise clients about the total amount of the settlement; and failed to get clients’ consent to place $20 million in settlement money in a charitable fund that the lawyers controlled.
In addition to being disbarred and facing federal charges, the two have already lost a case brought by their former clients in state court, in which they were ordered to repay $42 million to their clients. To satisfy these and other claims, ESPN.com reports that the 20 percent stake Gallion and Cunningham own in 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin will be auctioned off on November 5.
It’s been a tough year or so for the trial bar’s leading lights. Securities class action kingpins Bill Lerach and Melvyn Weiss traded in their pinstripes for prison stripes after pleading guilty to paying kickbacks to front-men plaintiffs…and tobacco litigation titan Dickie Scruggs is also serving time after admitting he bribed a judge.