Malpractice Insurance Fraud Charge Is Dropped Against Ky. Lawyer Disbarred for Role in Fen-Phen Case
Disbarred even after he was acquitted in a high-profile criminal case against three attorneys accused of swindling clients in multimillion-dollar fen-phen diet drug litigation, a Kentucky lawyer has won another round in criminal court.
A Fayette Circuit Court judge has acquiesced to a prosecutor’s request to dismiss without prejudice a felony insurance fraud case against Melbourne Mills Jr., who had been accused of misleading Continental Casualty Co. of Chicago in a 2003 malpractice insurance renewal application, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Under the policy, Continental spent $233,674.49 to defend Mills against a lawsuit brought by his former clients, and a grand jury indicted Mills in January 2011 on a theory that he had withheld relevant information from the insurer.
However, Fayette Circuit Judge Ernesto Scorsone agreed to dismiss the case after assistant Fayette commonwealth’s attorney Benjamin Willis said the prosecution had been persuaded by an affidavit from a lawyer representing Mills at the time that Mills was following his counsel’s direction and advice when he took the actions at issue.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Now-Disbarred Attorney Acquitted in Fen-Phen Case Faces New Indictment re Law Firm Insurance Policy”
