Suit Against PI Lawyer Disputes Fen-Phen Expenses
A class action lawsuit by former clients of Houston personal injury lawyer George Fleming and his law firm alleges the lawyers overcharged for expenses in a $29 million fen-phen settlement.
The suit says Fleming & Associates improperly charged the fen-phen settlement plaintiffs for echocardiograms performed on clients that turned out to be negative, Texas Lawyer reports. The suit says the physician costs were attributed to plaintiffs under the “guise” of a study.
The suit also claims Fleming improperly charged the settlement plaintiffs for “unreasonable transportation and excessive accommodation charges,” the story says.
A federal judge in Houston refused to grant summary judgment for the defendants on Nov. 21.
The suit claims a lawyer at Fleming’s firm objected to charging the plaintiffs for the echocardiogram testing and he was fired as a result.
Fleming disputes the allegations, saying no lawyer was fired for questioning the echocardiogram expense, and all the lawyers at his firm agreed with the charge.
“The charges that we made to our clients as a result of a court-ordered echocardiogram program … in our judgment is altogether appropriate, and we’ll defend it,” Fleming told the legal publication.
