Dramatic Update on the Defective Silicone Implants case:
HOUSTON - Prominent trial lawyer John O’Quinn has been ordered to pay at least $35.7 million to more than 3,000 former clients for improperly deducting expenses from settlements he won for them.
With interest and attorneys’ fees, O’Quinn might have to pay as much as $60 million.
‘‘Quite simply, if O’Quinn is allowed to improperly withhold client funds with impunity, other lawyers may believe that they can do likewise,’’ wrote the three-person arbitration panel that decided the case.
The decision against O’Quinn was the result of a class-action lawsuit filed in 1999 by three ex-clients who claimed his law firm overcharged them for expenses when they settled lawsuits alleging their breast implants were defective. More than 3,000 other former clients later joined the lawsuit.
In March, the arbitration panel decided the deduction of a total of $18.9 million from the plaintiffs’ settlements was improper. The decision also said the 1.5 percent of general expenses collected by O’Quinn from the women were not authorized by his client contracts.
O’Quinn has been at the forefront of national litigation like the breast implant cases and was part of the state of Texas’ massive settlement from the tobacco industry. But he also has been prosecuted by the State Bar of Texas for how he obtained cases and found in contempt midtrial for sleeping in a jury room.
More recently, O’Quinn was sued for slander by Howard K. Stern, the former attorney and companion of Anna Nicole Smith for allegedly suggesting Stern was involved in Smith’s death. O’Quinn is representing Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur, in a custody battle over Smith’s baby.
O’Quinn plans to appeal.
O’Quinn, through his three legal firms, must pay back $10.7 million in improper charges and a $25 million penalty for breaking his contract.
O’Quinn also will be asked to pay about $2 million of his ex-clients’ legal fees.
Total legal fees for all the clients were at least $263.4 million.
From news agencies