issues going to bartle

[nick]

Have received a lot of emails lately asking what is up.....

Still on course to broach issues in showcause that have plagued us claimants. ......


"Spurred by allegations of massive fraud in the $5 billion class-action settlement over fen-phen diet drugs, federal investigators are conducting a nationwide criminal probe into tens of thousands of claims asserting heart damage from the pills.


The U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia and the FBI are examining whether lawyers, doctors and medical technicians conspired to submit bogus claims, according to sources in the criminal justice system.


Investigators also are trying to root out former fen-phen users who participated in scams to file phony or exaggerated claims."

Even some of the plaintiffs lawyers admit that fraudulent claims have likely been filed:

""I think there has been a significant amount of fraud in this claims process," said Center City lawyer Michael Fishbein, who is counsel for class-action plaintiffs and a liaison to claimants' attorneys. He estimates that up to 85 percent of claims may be questionable."The article goes on to detail specific instances of fraud and alleged fraud:

"Despite the shadow of fraud, the only prosecutions so far have occurred in Mississippi. Eighteen people were charged in connection with submitting phony claims to the settlement trust; 17 pleaded guilty.

We had the seventh amendment because of this...we all waited extra years for our settlement because of this

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EVIDENCE???

WHY DIDN'T THE INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE?

Mike Fishbein says 85% of claims were fraud....what deal did Mike Fishbein cut with wyeth to make this 85% disappear?

WHO paid the price to make that 85% disappear?

How can 85% of us claimants not be informed by the parties in this settlement that our echoes were manipulated?

almost 9 out of 10 claimants...THE PARTIES WHO RUN THIS SETTLEMENT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIDING THIS INFORMATION FROM YOU!!!


showcause is not going to be pretty...


Court of Appeals......last hope for 85% of the claimants in this settlement to get justice?

[trust complicity]

has martin rudolph considered the mere fact that each green form algorithm that had been developed and employed in accordance to the lawyer/doctor/echo company is in itself an acknowledgement by the trust that it is aware of a certain type of manipulation that has been associated with the offending party

How do you square KNOWING ABOUT THIS FRAUD? Your number one responsibility is to protect us claimant, not the lawyer/doctor/echo company

this fact will not be lost on the C of A....your targetted algorithm confirms you knew what was happening

mike fishbein says 85% of the claims were fraud...WAS 85% OF US CLAIMANTS TOLD WE HAD A JACKED ECHO?

Chief Justice John Minton wrote.

"But, we cannot ignore the fact it takes no technical expertise or experience in the settling of class action lawsuits or any sophisticated understanding of the rules of ethics to know that Respondent's course of conduct, personally and directly deceiving his clients, some of whom had been egregiously injured, was wrong."

[kinipela1]

OH I would so love to see Stanley Chesley lose his law license, that would be enough for me!! He is the original scumbag who started this whole cluster fuc%%%%


Fourth Fen-Phen lawyer disbarred

By Jessica M. Karmasek
9/23/2011 12:11 PM



FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) - The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday disbarred David Helmers, a Kentucky attorney who worked on a controversial class action lawsuit over the diet drug Fen-Phen.


The state's high court, in its 10-page opinion, wrote that Helmers committed "serious ethical violations."


In addition to permanently disbarring him from practicing in the state, the Court also directed him to pay all costs associated with the disciplinary proceedings -- $39,673.53.


Helmers is the fourth attorney involved in the fen-phen case to be disbarred.


The Court also is considering disbarring prominent plaintiffs lawyer Stanley Chesley, who has maintained he was not co-counsel for the plaintiffs and was not aware that other attorneys were deceiving their clients. He says he was simply brought in to negotiate the 2001 settlement.


Chesley's own disbarment was recommended by the Kentucky Bar Association's Board of Governors in June. The board also has recommended that the Cincinnati trial lawyer, known for winning billions of dollars for his clients in other mass torts, should return $7.5 million in fees he received in the settlement.


If Chesley is disbarred in Kentucky, it could mean disbarment in his home state of Ohio as well. The two states have a reciprocal agreement.


The lawsuit at issue is Darla Guard, et al or Jonetta Moore, et al v. A.H. Robins Company, et al.


The suit, filed in Boone Circuit Court in 1998, sought damages for injuries from the diet drug.


Chesley was one of the four lawyers involved in the settlement with American Home Products, the manufacturer of the drug. The others included Lexington-area lawyers Shirley Cunningham, William Gallion and Melbourne Mills Jr.


The lawyers received roughly 50 percent of the $200 million settlement. Their 431 clients received the rest. Chesley, himself, collected a $20.5 million fee for negotiating the settlement.


The clients later sued the lawyers for allegedly breaching their duties by diverting most of the settlement money to themselves.


In 2009, Cunningham and Gallion were sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for their roles in stealing the settlement money. Mills was acquitted of all charges. All three have lost their law licenses.


In addition, Judge Joseph F. Bamberger, a senior status special judge who approved the settlement, later resigned. It was revealed he was paid $5,000 a month as a director of a phony charitable entity, The Kentucky Fund for Healthy Living, which was funded by the settlement and allegedly directed by the lawyers.


Helmers was an associate at law firm Gallion, Baker and Bray at the time of the settlement.


The Court, while it was sympathetic to the fact that he was relatively new to the firm at the time, said it couldn't ignore the facts.


"We are aware that Respondent was a young law student when he first began working for Gallion, and that Gallion was then a well-regarded and reputable attorney. We are aware that as a new attorney working with Gallion, Cunningham and Mills, Respondent was inexperienced, impressionable and may have been influenced, and perhaps even led astray, by those more seasoned lawyers," Chief Justice John Minton wrote.


"But, we cannot ignore the fact it takes no technical expertise or experience in the settling of class action lawsuits or any sophisticated understanding of the rules of ethics to know that Respondent's course of conduct, personally and directly deceiving his clients, some of whom had been egregiously injured, was wrong."


Minton added, "That he did so at the direction of his employer does not permit us to overlook the serious deficiency in character revealed by the facts before us."

[kinipela1]

[e-mail]

I think it is time to tell the Kentucky Bar how much Stanley Chesney affected all of our lives with his passion for money!!

[nick]

kini

beautiful....wonderful idea

I just fired off my email asking for prison time and forfeiture of funds

[Nick]

To answer a few more emails at one time rather than replying individually to each of you.....

The CofA by their recent ruling has pretty much stated that if a person agreed to be in the 7th then later decides that the seventh was unfair and asks to then receive all of the benefits that one would had received if they remained in the original settlement, that it was not a valid reason to have that seventh choice rescinded.

However each of those clients who did enter the seventh are still entitled to have an echo that was not juiced. Mike Fishbein says 85% of claims were fraud-ed. ( mostly mass atty filings)

If I were in the seventh I would still want to know if my echo was juiced by my former atty. This settlement owes you the guarantee that you receive an echo that was not manipulated in any way. If it is found that the seventh was negotiated under fraudulent terms, you not knowing that your echoes were juiced ( only your lawyer would have been told of this) then there is a chance to have this seventh reopened due to fraud.

This would take a massive write in campaign by claimants in the seventh. These letters would have to go to Martin Ruldolph, Berman,Judge Bartle,Greg Miller,Henshell.

You would have to state that you have been told by Class Counsel Mike Fishbein that 85% of the settlement ciams were fraud ed, I want the Trust to make sure that this fraud that was perpetrated did not happen to my claim....I WANT YOU TO GUARANTEE ME THAT I DID NOT RECEIVE AN ECHO THAT WAS MANIPULATED.

Judy,

I vaguely remember your argument where you were chastised for having Crouse read your echo....and that you wanted to distance yourself from her but the Trust seemed like they would not let you do that. Have you considered that the green form algorithm that the Trust has run on you has tied your claim to your former lawyer/dr/echo company and you can not be untied from that algorithm?

for what it is worth.......nick

[shcook]

I guess I have an issue different from others. My echo was NOT manipulated at all. It was done in my cardiologist's office and I personally picked it up and delivered it to my attorney's office. The problem I have is that I received in the mail, my copy of the Seventh Amendment on a Friday from my attorney's office along with a letter saying that they needed it signed and returned to their offices by Tuesday.

I also was informed that if I did not take the Seventh Amendment, they would no longer be able to represent me and I would therefore, need to find another attorney.

I don't know about anyone else, but in order to get these signed papers back to my attorney's office by Tuesday, it needed to be signed and mailed THAT DAY. I had no time to read the Seventh Amendment, let alone try and understand it. My attorneys told me that it was in my best interests to sign and accept it.

I feel as though I was mislead and forced to take something I did not want. I was led to believe that there were no attorneys out there willing to take on any cases that did not accept the Seventh Amendment. I don't know about anyone else, but how on earth do you get an appointment with an attorney to discuss something when you only have limited time. There was no time to research and find another attorney and unfortunately, I trusted that my current attorney was looking out for my best interests. Obviously NOT.

So when the CofA says that there are no valid reasons to have the Seventh Amendment rescinded, I highly disagree. What about those of us who were forced into signing on to accept it without having time to read it or research other avenues. I know of several people who are in the same boat as I am. They were not given proper time to read, understand or even pursue other avenues.

I feel as though this whole thing (the Seventh Amendment) was rushed through as quickly as possible to sneak it through and push it down everyone's throats.

I'm sure there are many out there who had manipulated echos, but there are also MANY people who signed on to the Seventh because we were led to believe it was our only option and we were not given adequate time to investigate and research other options.

I am one disgusted recipient of a settlement that was shoved down my throat by someone who was supposed to be looking out for my best interests, according to the law. What does any of this say for our justice system???

All I can say at this point is more power to all of you who still have options. I'm just so angry at myself for trusting that my attorney was on my side....what a horrible mistake I made!!!!

Wishing all a Happy Thanksgiving!

[nick]

Cook,

Thanks for pointing out that there were a few other valid reasons that the seventh should be set aside. Obviously your situation is another of those reasons. I am totally with you on this. You too got screwed over and have a legitimate gripe. What happened to you was criminal, there is little doubt that the seventh and the way it was shoved up our collective azz was done in a "very calculated" fashion. The attys who crafted and implemented this piece of chit did everything they could to make this as obtuse and as difficult as it could possibly be for us claimants.

I do have seventh issues that have been accepted into my showcause. I have standing and I promise I will push this.

This court may have overlooked these 7th motions but they are once again there for the CofA to review. When they start seeing what a pile of chit this seveth is i am hopeful they start looking at all aspects of how it hurt us claimants.

Pro Se Claimant Says 7th Amendment Created To Cover For Bad Claims, PHILADELPHIA -, Mealey's Litigation Report: Fen-Phen/Redux, February 2007, 10-4 Mealey's Litig. Rep. Fen-Phen/Redux 8 (2007), Volume 10, Issue #4

Wyeth Opposes Motions To Unseal Settlement Petition, Receive 7th Amendment Relief, PHILADELPHIA -, Mealey's Litigation Report: Fen-Phen/Redux, August 2006, 9-10 Mealey's Litig. Rep. Fen-Phen/Redux 7 (2006), Volume 9, Issue #10

Pro Se Claimant Says 7th Amendment Created To Cover For Bad Claims, PHILADELPHIA -, Mealey's Mass Tort Pleadings, February 2007, 3-6 Mealey's Mass Tort Pleadings 39 (2007), Volume 3, Issue #6

. Pro Se Class Member Says 7th Amendment Stripped Representation, PHILADELPHIA -, Mealey's Mass Tort Pleadings, January 2007, 3-5 Mealey's Mass Tort Pleadings 62 (2007), Volume 3, Issue #5

[lurker Kathy]

I have never posted before but I do read the board for information regarding the seventh amendment. I too was told that the seventh amendment was the only option I could take. I was given 3 days to make a decision in which I had no clue as to the later ramifications. Take the seventh or my attorney would no longer represent me. I made a bad choice because I was pressured by my lawyer to select the seventh. Even though I received some settlement money, nothing close to what I was suppose to receive in the original settlement, I am sick to my stomach that I am in this seventh. I know that my attorney here in Texas had many many clients. I know this because he had provided me my ecgocardiogram and there were many people there receiving their's also.

If there was something done to my echo I was not told by anyone in this settlement that this was so. I plan on writing Judge Bartle III and asking him to make sure my echo was not tampered with. If class counsel has stated there was eighty-five percent fraud involved in this settlement I better be in the fifteen percent that was safe, otherwise I am going to sue the socks off of my attorney for doing this to me. Thank you for this board.

[shcook]

Kathy, I too, am in Texas and I know my attorney's office did arrange for some people to get echos through their offices. I did not need to do that because I already had an echo done that was qualifying. However, I too, was only given 3 days to accept, sign and return the signed Seventh Amendment to their offices. They also told me that they would not be able to represent me if I did not join the Seventh immediately.

I feel they did it this way on purpose to rush everyone through. I also do not understand how it is legal for you to sign on with an attorney who is supposed to be representing your best interests and then they tell you to sign this Seventh Amendment because you virtually have no other options and that if you do not sign it, they can no longer represent you. Obviously, signing the Seventh was NOT in my best interests. I was obviously not represented properly. Something smells very rotten here.

Kathy, if you find a way to write to Judge Bartle or anyone else regarding this matter, I too, would like to join you in saying that I was not given enough time, information or the ability to seek out counsel that was going to be honestly looking out for my best interests.

Best of luck to you and everyone involved in this nightmare.

[nick]

anyone in the seventh going to make an offerering to the court before December deadline?

[judyd]

Hi,
If your attorneys pushed you into the 7th which was obviously in their best interest, not yours, you should be able to sue them for malpractice because it is their legal duty to represent your best interest. I was pro-se and what you said about continuously being bound to a MD who we no longer used is accurate, but what to do about that??
JudyD

[tiepaevic]

I too only lurk on the board for new updates. Hoping that the seventh ammendment would be found out for what it was...a easy out for wyeth. like some of the others I was given approx. 3 days to make a decision. I was told paperwork would be sent over night to me, sign on the yellow tabs, and send overnight back in the enclosed paid envelope. They said it was in my best interest, as it did not look to be that many funds would be left. If i chose not to sign, I was pretty much told I was out of luck. I believed them, and chose to take something, instead of getting nothing. Now all I feel like is I got was the shaft. Wyeth gets the remaining funds, what a crock...according to them there would be no funds...What happened. I am tired, and guess we were just taken for a ride. I have damage (yes I got something, but just a fraction of what I should have gotten). AND what really is irritating is that in the beginning, they paid anyone who even said they took their poison. How many people are living off of our damage? What a shame, i guess i only need to blame myself for believing in this medicine, in my attorneys, and in the court. I wish everyone only the best, and hope you get everything you deserve, and so do the scumbags who got rich off of our misery.

Vickie

[shcook]

It sounds to me that there are so many of us who had our attorneys push the Seventh Amendment down our throats very quickly without any opportunities to research other avenues. This seems like it was done on purpose, without regard for our best interests. I would think if we could all get together we should be able to do something, whether it be write letters to the Judge or to someone and say we feel our rights were violated and we were forced into the Seventh Amendment. I, for one, was told that if I did NOT sign it, they could no longer represent me. I was also told that even though I have legitimate damage, that there may not be any money left if I didn't take the Seventh and that it would be better to get something than risk not signing and end up with nothing.

It all smells way to fishy to me. We gave Class Counsel forever to put together everything for us. Then when they finally got something approved from the Courts, it took at least 30 days for them to cut the checks and another 30 days for us to get them, and so many days for the checks to clear at the attorney's office before we could access our funds. I mean, seriously, they took all the time allotted to them to do their job, yet they expected us, the injured parties here, to make a snap decision, sign paperwork and mail it back, virtually immediately, on a decision that we should have been given proper time to read, study, research.

I think we should all get together and do something about this. They took advantage of us and forced us to settle while they lined their own pockets with almost half of our money. Then I was also forced to sign paperwork saying I would not sue anyone over this. This sure smells rotten to me.

Has anyone here ever tried to get an apppointment with a lawyer's office? Seriously, it cannot be done in two days. Let alone, read a booklet of a settlement, understand it, research the laws involved and make an informed decision. We all took our attorneys word on it, and we all got raked over the coals. I think it's time to stand up and be heard!!!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!