Update on Kentucky Fen-Phen Lawyers’ Trial

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports that Judge William Bertelsman declared a mistrial in the Kentucky lawyers’ fen-phen case after the jury reported that they were “hopelessly deadlocked.” Here’s an excerpt:

Cunningham, Gallion and a third defendant, Melbourne Mills, who was acquitted, were on trial in federal court for allegedly bilking their clients out of $65 million of a $200 million settlement over alleged injuries caused by the diet drug Fen Phen.

But things seem to be looking up for Gallion and Mills. The jury foreman from the first trial, Donald A. Rainone, told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the majority of the jury — including himself — thought that others involved in the 2001 settlement, approved by Boone Circuit Court judge Joseph “Jay” Bamberger, should’ve been charged as well. (Rainone, who declined to name names could’ve been referring to Judge Bamberger, who at the first trial testified to being “embarrassed” by the way he handled the underlying Fen-Phen suit, or Stanley Chesley, the well-known Cincinnati lawyer who negotiated the settlement for a fee of $20 million.)

ECB