Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Shocking!


OMG! Imagine that; a law firm that overcharged its clients!
As Claude Rains said as Captain Renault in the movie Casablanca, is informed that Rick's (Humphrey Bogart) runs a casino; I'm Shocked!, Shocked!, and then pockets his winnings from the same casino.



Plaintiffs Attorney, Firm Sued Over Fen-Phen Expenses

Former client seeks class certification, damages for herself and other class members, and disgorgement of attorney fees

Brenda Sapino JeffreysTexas LawyerDecember 17, 2007

A former fen-phen client of Fleming & Associates has sued the Houston-based firm and partner George Fleming, alleging they took too much expense money out of her fen-phen settlement, including a share of $29 million for echocardiograms performed on prospective clients.
Plaintiff Sandra Karnes, who hired Fleming & Associates to seek damages from pharmaceutical company Wyeth for heart-valve injury she allegedly sustained after taking the diet-drug combination known as fen-phen, seeks class certification in the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Late last month, U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein of Houston denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment. No hearing is yet scheduled on the class certification motion.
The allegations in Karnes, et al. v. Fleming, et al. are interesting, because Karnes filed her complaint shortly before an arbitration panel ordered Houston lawyer John M. O'Quinn's firm to pay more than $41 million to a class of 3,450 former breast implant clients who allege O'Quinn's firm overcharged them for expenses.