Fen-phen law firm sex allegation trial set

LOUISVILLE, Ky., June 22 (UPI) -- The law firm that handled the national class action lawsuit over the diet drug fen-phen has been sued by a Kentucky woman, attorneys say.

Chief Jefferson County Circuit Judge James Shake has scheduled a September trial pitting Patricia Fulkerson of Coxs Creek, Ky., against the Florida law firm of Wasserman Riley & Associates, the Lousiville Courier-Journal reported Monday.

The newspaper said that in the suit, Fulkerson accuses attorney Robert Riley of Louisville of demanding sexual favors and threatening that she wouldn't recover as much money from the fen-phen suit unless she gave in to his demands.

Shake rejected the lawyers' arguments that the firm's conduct didn't amount to malpractice or negligence and set a trial date if a settlement can't be reached a mediation session later this week, the Courier Journal said.

Fulkerson reportedly said in a deposition, "Every time I would deny (Riley) lunch or a drink or any of the things he considered friendly, he would say, 'Just remember you have to come through me to get your money," adding that Riley allegedly asked her to have sex with him and to swim naked in his pool.