RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION

Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206

File Name: 12a0113p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT _________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

SHIRLEY A. CUNNINGHAM, JR. (09-5987) and

WILLIAM J. GALLION (09-5998), 

 Defendants-Appellants.

X

-

-

-

-

>

,

-

-

-

-

N

Nos. 09-5987/5998

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Covington.

Nos. 07-00039-001; 07-00039-002—Danny C. Reeves, District Judge.

Argued: January 17, 2012

Decided and Filed: May 1, 2012 

Before: BATCHELDER, Chief Judge; CLAY and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.

_________________

COUNSEL

ARGUED: T. Clifton Harviel, HARVIEL LAW OFFICES, Memphis, Tennessee, H.

Louis Sirkin, SIRKIN KINSLEY & NAZZARINE CO., LPA, Cincinnati, Ohio, for

Appellants. Vijay Shanker, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: T. Clifton Harviel, HARVIEL LAW

OFFICES, Memphis, Tennessee, H. Louis Sirkin, Scott Ryan Nazzarine, SIRKIN

KINSLEY & NAZZARINE CO., LPA, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellants. Vijay Shanker,

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., Charles P.

Wisdom, Jr., ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Lexington, Kentucky,

Laura K. Voorhees, E.J. Walbourn, ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS, Ft.

Mitchell, Kentucky, for Appellee. 

1
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 2

_________________

OPINION

_________________

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. Shirley Cunningham, Jr., and William

Gallion were two of three Kentucky lawyers who represented several hundred Kentucky

clients in a mass-tort action against the manufacturer of the defective drug “fen-phen.”

They settled the case for $200 million, which entitled them under their retainer

agreements to approximately $22 million each in attorney fees. But rather than limit

themselves to what they had contractually earned, Cunningham and Gallion concocted

a fraudulent scheme to take from their clients almost twice that amount. The scheme did

not work out as planned: Cunningham and Gallion were caught, subsequently disbarred

from practicing law in Kentucky, and indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit

wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1349.

After a mistrial, a superseding indictment was issued that again charged

Cunningham and Gallion with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, but added

eight counts that specifically detailed the wire communications that were part of the

scheme. The two men were convicted on all counts at their second trial. They have

appealed and now attack their convictions on numerous grounds. For the reasons set

forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual background

In the 1990s, the diet drug popularly known as “fen-phen” (named for the

combination of fenfluramine and phentermine) was used by an estimated six million

Americans. Fen-phen was initially hailed as a miracle drug, yet turned out to be

anything but when it was found to cause heart-valve dysfunctions in as many as a third

of its users. These dysfunctions soon produced injuries, which in turn produced

litigation.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 3

One lawsuit in particular marks the factual starting point for this appeal. In 1998,

a group of injured fen-phen users in Kentucky, represented by Kentucky lawyers Shirley

Cunningham, William Gallion, and Melbourne Mills, brought a prospective class action

against American Home Products (AHP), the drug’s manufacturer. Also named as

defendants in the lawsuit were Rex Duff, a Kentucky doctor who had prescribed fenphen to many of the injured plaintiffs, as well as the clinic that Duff owned and operated.

The case was certified as a class action in May 1999, but no notice was given to potential

class members.

While the lawsuit was pending in Kentucky state court, another case against AHP

was proceeding as a federal multi-district class-action claim in Pennsylvania. The

federal litigation eventually resulted in a nationwide class-action settlement in August

2000, which was approved by the Pennsylvania district court supervising the case.

Under the terms of the settlement, which defined the class as all persons in the United

States who had used fen-phen, the Kentucky plaintiffs would have received a share of

the total settlement amount in exchange for releasing their claims against AHP. But on

the advice of their lawyers, the Kentucky plaintiffs opted out of the nationwide

settlement, preferring instead to take their chances in the state-court action. A total of

approximately 431 clients represented by either Cunningham, Gallion, or Mills opted

out.

As a tactical move, opting out made financial sense for both the clients and their

attorneys. The clients believed (correctly, as it turned out) that they would receive a

more generous recovery by pursuing their own action in state court. And if they

received such a recovery, their attorneys stood to make huge amounts of money in fees

because each attorney had entered into retainer agreements with his respective clients

entitling him to roughly a third of each client’s recovery.

Because the state-court action remained quite large and complex—involving

hundreds of plaintiffs with injuries ranging widely in terms of scope and severity—the

attorneys sought outside help. They brought in class-action specialist Stanley Chesley,

an attorney based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chesley’s role was to help negotiate a settlement
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 4

with AHP. If he succeeded in reaching a settlement, the Kentucky attorneys and Chesley

agreed that Chesley would receive a share—at first 27 percent, but later reduced to 21

percent—of the attorney fees owed to Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills under their

respective retainer agreements.

Settlement mediation between the Kentucky plaintiffs and AHP took place in the

spring of 2001. According to the trial testimony of Jack Vardaman, who served as

counsel for AHP during the settlement-negotiation process, the purpose of the mediation

(and thus the purpose of any settlement agreement reached as a result of the mediation)

was to settle the claims of the 431 clients represented by Cunningham, Gallion, and

Mills; it was not to settle the claims of anyone else who might otherwise have qualified

as a member of the class. The 431 clients were nevertheless kept in the dark throughout

the settlement-negotiation process. As one internal email that Gallion sent prior to the

mediation reads: “We do not want to tell any clients that we are going to try to settle a

bunch of cases for a lump sum and then divide up the money. That is only inviting

trouble.”

After two days of mediation, AHP and the claimants’ attorneys struck a deal on

May 1, 2001. The total amount of the settlement was $200 million. Relevant provisions

of the agreement included the following:

• the $200 million would be distributed to and allocated by

Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills;

• AHP had a right to terminate the settlement agreement as to all

claimants unless 95 percent of the claimants accepted the

agreement by September 1, 2001;

• any claimant who accepted the settlement agreement would have

to sign a release, thereby losing his or her right to bring a future

claim against AHP arising out of the use of fen-phen;

• Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills would move to decertify the

state-court class action and dismiss the case with prejudice;

• AHP would not pay any of the $200 million unless most of the

claimants with the worst injuries agreed to settle their cases;
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 5

• all settlement terms were confidential except for the purposes of

receiving tax advice or complying with a court order, and any

knowing breach of confidentiality would result in Cunningham,

Gallion, and/or Mills paying $100,000 in damages to AHP; and

• in a side letter to the agreement, Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills

agreed to indemnify AHP up to the amount of $7.5 million for

any future claims brought against Duff or his clinics within one

year of dismissal of the state-court action by individuals who

were not included in the settlement agreement.

Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills each signed the agreement. Vardaman signed on behalf

of AHP.

Having come to a tentative agreement, the lawyers notified Judge Joseph

Bamberger, who presided over the state-court action. Judge Bamberger then entered an

order decertifying the class, dismissing with prejudice the claims of the 431 settling

claimants—notably, before any of those claimants had even been made aware of, much

less agreed to, the settlement—and dismissing without prejudice the claims of any

potential class members beyond the 431 claimants covered by the May 1, 2001

agreement. In the order, Judge Bamberger made clear that “[t]he parties did not have

sufficient information concerning, and were not able to reach a settlement of, the claims

of other class members.” He therefore did not construe the settlement agreement as a

class-action settlement, but rather as an aggregate settlement of the claims of 431

specific individuals.

The lawyers then had to determine how to allocate the money among the 431

clients (or 440 clients, as the final number indicated). To this end, Gallion directed his

associate David Helmers to draft a formula that computed each client’s fair share, taking

into account the extent to which each had been injured. The resulting formula was based

primarily on the matrix used to distribute the nationwide class-action settlement fund.

Gallion then modified the numbers to increase the share that would go to the clients who

had sustained the worst injuries. The result was a comprehensive spreadsheet that listed

each client’s approximate share of the total recovery.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 6

Next came the matter of notifying the clients that a deal had been reached and

securing their assent to the terms of the settlement. In Kentucky, an attorney’s

professional obligation to his clients in aggregate-settlement situations is governed by

Rule 3.130(1.8)(g) of the Kentucky Supreme Court. That rule, with which Cunningham,

Gallion, and Mills explicitly agreed to comply in the May 2001 settlement agreement,

provides as follows:

A lawyer who represents two or more clients shall not participate in

making an aggregate settlement of the claims of or against the

clients . . . unless each client gives informed consent, in a writing signed

by the client. The lawyer’s disclosure shall include the existence and

nature of all the claims or pleas involved and of the participation of each

person in the settlement.

Ky. Sup. Ct. R. 3.130(1.8)(g). According to the government’s expert witness, Professor

Howard M. Erichson, this rule imposed upon Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills the

obligation to inform their clients of the total amount of the settlement, the number of

individuals sharing in it, the method used to calculate each individual’s share, and the

95-percent acceptance requirement.

But the evidence at trial revealed that they did none of this. Instead, according

to the testimony of numerous clients, a representative of the lawyers went to each client

individually, told him or her that a tentative settlement agreement had been reached as

to that individual’s claim (without mentioning that the claim had already been dismissed

with prejudice by Judge Bamberger), devalued the amount of the individual’s recovery

as compared to the number listed on Gallion’s spreadsheet, and instructed the client to

sign a confidential release.

If a client complained about the recovery amount or refused to settle, the

lawyers’ representative would return at a later date with a larger offer, falsely explaining

that the lawyers had successfully renegotiated the client’s claims with AHP. Every

client ultimately accepted his or her settlement offer.

After each client had accepted the offer, he or she was informed of the

agreement’s confidentiality provision. But the lawyers misrepresented to at least some
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 7

of their clients the effect of noncompliance with that provision, telling these clients that

they could go to jail if they told anyone about the details of the settlement. In this way,

the lawyers used the provision as both a sword and a shield, bullying their clients into

keeping their mouths shut and protecting the lawyers’ actions from discovery by others.

With the 95-percent acceptance requirement satisfied, AHP began depositing the

settlement money into an escrow account that the lawyers had established for the

purpose of distributing the settlement funds. All $200 million, plus an additional

$450,000 for the settlement of new claims, was deposited by the end of 2001. Under

their retainer agreements, the lawyers were due approximately one third of this amount;

the clients were entitled to the rest.

The actual breakdown, however, worked out quite differently. According to

bank records introduced at trial, the lawyers paid their clients—in checks marked “final

settlement”—just a bit more than $45 million altogether, or less than 23 percent of the

total settlement amount. The lawyers kept the remainder for themselves and associated

counsel, transferring much of it from the escrow account to various other accounts,

including out-of-state accounts, held by either Cunningham, Gallion, or Mills. And even

though the lawyers had paid their clients far less than the amounts owed under the

lawyers’ own allocation spreadsheet, Gallion directed Helmers and other subordinates

to calculate the attorney fees using the higher numbers set forth in the spreadsheet.

The lawyers’ actions eventually attracted the attention of the Kentucky Bar

Association (KBA). After receiving a complaint regarding how Mills had handled the

settlement, the KBA launched a disciplinary investigation into the matter in January

2002. Linda Gosnell, the KBA’s chief counsel, led the investigation. She soon

determined that she needed to review the specifics of the settlement-payment process to

ascertain how the money had been distributed to the clients. Gosnell therefore requested

that subpoenas be issued for the lawyers’ bank-account records. Cunningham, Gallion,

and Mills were served with the subpoena applications, which noted that a hearing

regarding the subpoenas was scheduled before the Kentucky Supreme Court on February
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 8

11, 2002. Mills was served with the application on January 30; the record does not

reflect when the other two attorneys were served.

Gallion stopped by Mills’s office on January 31 and ordered an employee there

to destroy any documents relating to the way in which the individual clients’ claims had

been settled. Declining to do so, the employee moved many of the documents into a

locked drawer inside her office for safekeeping.

On February 8, 2002—three days before the Kentucky Supreme Court’s hearing

regarding the subpoena applications—Cunningham and Gallion ordered the transfer of

approximately $59 million from their personal bank accounts back into the escrow

account. Cunningham specifically requested that the transfers be completed no later than

February 11. The transfers in fact occurred on that date, the same day that the Kentucky

Supreme Court approved the issuance of the subpoenas.

Meanwhile, Chesley, Cunningham, and Gallion met with Judge Bamberger on

February 6, 2002 to further discuss the settlement, despite the fact that Judge Bamberger

had already dismissed the case. The meeting occurred late in the workday, outside the

presence of AHP or any of the lawyers’ clients. Several important developments

transpired during the meeting. First, Gallion requested that the court approve an

allocation of 49 percent of the total settlement fund as attorney fees. In making this

request, Gallion failed to mention that each lawyer had already received fees—calculated

by using the total settlement amount as opposed to the (lower) actual amount distributed

to the clients—or even that each had previously entered into lower-percentage retainer

agreements with their respective clients. Nor did Gallion tell the judge that the lawyers

were currently under investigation by the KBA for their handling of the settlement.

Second, Chesley discussed with Judge Bamberger the possibility of distributing

some of the excess funds from the settlement into a cy pres trust account, from which the

money could be used for charitable purposes. Chesley explained that this practice is

fairly common in class-action settlements. But he did not discuss with the judge why

establishing a charitable trust was appropriate in this case or in aggregate settlements

more generally. Nor did he mention the amount of money involved. And finally,
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 9

Gallion asked Judge Bamberger to order a second distribution of the settlement funds

to the clients.

Judge Bamberger approved the 49-percent fee award and a second distribution

in an order drafted by the lawyers. The order, which the judge signed on February 15,

2002, but which was not entered until June 6 of the same year, provides in pertinent part

that the court had:

• “retain[ed] jurisdiction over the settled action for purposes of

resolving any post-settlement issues including the anticipated

need for Court participation in allocation of excess [settlement]

funds”;

• approved of “the manner in which [the settlement] proceeds have

been handled,” “the attorney’s fees and expenses paid to date as

reasonable and necessary,” and “fees and expenses as discussed”

on the ground that the court had “been provided an accounting of

the settlement proceeds to date including the . . . assessment and

allocation of attorney’s fees”;

• approved of “the method of claims administration, and the

reasonableness and fairness of payments made to individual

claimants,” on the ground that the court had “been advised of the

manner in which the individual claims have been administered

and the proceeds allocated to the individual class members”; and

• approved of “the handling and management of [excess] funds to

date” on the grounds that the court had “been advised of the

existence of additional funds following the resolution of

individual claims” and had “discuss[ed] with the principal

plaintiffs’ counsel regarding the proper method of handling those

funds from this date forward.”

The court further ordered “that the funds be disbursed and allocated according

to the following schedule”: “[f]ifty percent of remaining funds shall be distributed to the

individual clients on a pro-rata basis” and “[t]he remaining fifty percent shall be held for

the purposes of handling any indemnification of contingent liabilities until further order

of the court.” No mention is made in the order that the judge had awarded 49 percent

of the total settlement as attorney fees.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 10

Despite later testifying that he disagreed with many of the factual statements

contained in the order, Judge Bamberger signed it anyway. His explanation for doing

so is that he trusted the attorneys to provide him with a truthful and comprehensive

order.

In the spring of 2002, Cunningham and Gallion directed that the second

distribution of settlement funds be made to the clients. The clients were sent letters

explaining that “[t]he Court is going to allow us to release some of these funds to

plaintiffs as extra compensation for a second distribution,” and so “we will be permitted

to give you additional settlement monies over and above the full compensation you have

already received.” These “additional settlement monies” ended up being about half of

each client’s initial allocation.

The letters also mentioned the topic of the charitable trust:

After July, 2002, we will meet with the Court again and review the

amounts paid pursuant to the indemnity agreement. If there are some

sums left over, we would like to donate the remainder to a charity and

know you would join us in this worthy and admirable act. The Court has

indicated that it also thinks a donation would be appropriate and the

Court would approve this. The issue of a charitable donation is

premature as we do not know whether there will be any sums remaining

to do this, but we wanted to inform you of our thoughts. Although we

believe you would concur, if you have a strong objection to the idea of

a donation to a charity, please let us know.

The letters did not clarify what “some sums” meant. Many clients assumed that the

number was quite small, likely in the hundreds of dollars. Some asked how much would

be donated and were told that “it would be a very small amount.” But Cunningham and

Gallion actually intended to put $20 million into the charitable trust. Many clients

testified that they would not have agreed to the donation had they been made aware that

the actual amount was so large.

The final state-court hearing relating to the settlement process took place in late

June 2002. Before that hearing was set to begin, Gallion informed Judge Bamberger that

$20 million remained in the settlement account and that the attorneys were considering
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 11

placing the excess money in a charitable trust. Judge Bamberger asked if the clients

knew about the extra $20 million. Gallion said that they did and that they were

“thrilled.”

During the hearing, Judge Bamberger agreed to place the excess settlement funds

into a charitable trust, to be known as the Kentucky Fund for Healthy Living (the Fund,

for short). Judge Bamberger signed an order to this effect, although the order did not

mention the amount of money that would be put into the Fund. The order also

authorized the payment of fees and expenses to the Fund’s four directors, three of whom

happened to be Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills. They each received nearly $150,000

in fees over the two-year period between June 2003 and June 2005. Judge Bamberger

himself later became a fifth paid director of the Fund, drawing more than $50,000 in fees

between July 2004 and April 2005.

One other matter was addressed during the June 2002 hearing: Judge Bamberger

agreed to release the $7.5 million that the lawyers had set aside to cover the possible

indemnity to AHP as provided in the side letter to the settlement agreement. The judge

specifically designated that money as attorney fees, which Cunningham, Gallion, and

Mills split among themselves.

Including these payments, the $200,450,000 in total settlement proceeds broke

down as follows: Cunningham received over $21 million; Gallion, nearly $31 million;

Mills, almost $24 million; Chesley, more than $20 million; the Fund, $20 million.

Several other lawyers divided up approximately $10.5 million. And the clients? Even

with the second distribution, they received a total of approximately $73.5

million—somewhat less than 37 percent of the total value of the settlement.

While all this was going on, the KBA was conducting its disciplinary

investigation. But before the investigation was complete, Cunningham and Gallion

voluntarily filed motions to withdraw from the KBA under permanent disbarment. The

motions, which were filed in September 2008, admitted that the lawyers had committed

numerous ethical violations. Each lawyer acknowledged that:
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 12

(1) he did not tell his clients in writing that he had made fee

arrangements with other attorneys; (2) he did not advise his clients

concerning the mediation of their case, or provide them an opportunity

to be present at the mediation or present input as to the value of their

specific case; (3) he did not advise his clients of the total settlement

amount and did not comply with the requirements of [Rule] 3.130-1.8(g)

[of the Kentucky Supreme Court]; (4) he did not advise his clients that

he was seeking fees that were more than the contingent fees provided in

his contingent fee contracts; (5) he did not comply with the requirements

of [Rule] 3.130-1.15 [of the Kentucky Supreme Court] to ‘hold property

of clients or third persons that is in a lawyer’s possession in connection

with a representation separate from the lawyer’s own property . . . in a

separate account maintained in the state where the lawyer’s office [i]s

situated . . .’; (6) he did not disclose to the clients that he intended to

request that the Judge consider placing approximately $20,000,000 of the

settlement funds into the Kentucky Fund for Healthy Living, Inc., or

obtain their consent to that distribution; (7) he participated as a paid

director of the Fund without client consent; and, (8) he did not disclose

to his clients that their individual settlement amounts were being

determined by a settlement protocol developed and administered by their

own lawyers, not by the Defendant.

The Kentucky Supreme Court granted the motions in October 2008 and permanently

disbarred Cunningham and Gallion from practicing law in Kentucky. Whether Mills was

likewise disbarred or made similar admissions to the KBA cannot be ascertained from

the record.

B. Criminal proceedings

Based on the above facts, a federal grand jury issued an indictment in June 2007,

charging Cunningham, Gallion, and Mills with one count of conspiring to commit wire

fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1349. After a jury trial a year later in the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Mills was found not

guilty. But the jury could not reach a verdict as to Cunningham or Gallion. Over

objection from the government, Cunningham sought to waive his constitutionally

protected right to a unanimous verdict and instead “accept a verdict if nine jurors

agreed.” The district court rejected his waiver, declared a mistrial, and transferred the

case to another judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 13

A superseding indictment was issued by a federal grand jury in September 2008,

again charging Cunningham and Gallion with one count of conspiracy to commit wire

fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1349, plus an additional eight counts of wire

fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1343. The indictment also included a forfeiture

count under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c). After a second jury trial,

which commenced in February 2009, Cunningham and Gallion were convicted on all

counts.

The district court sentenced Cunningham to 240 months in prison and Gallion

to 300 months in prison, both terms to be followed by three years of supervised release.

In addition, the court ordered the defendants to pay more than $127 million in restitution

to their clients. Both defendants have appealed. Their separate appeals have been

consolidated by this court.

II. ANALYSIS

The defendants raise numerous issues on appeal. They attack the sufficiency of

the evidence, challenge the timeliness of the indictments, assert constitutional violations

and other error stemming from the district court’s determination that the state-court

action was resolved as an aggregate settlement rather than as a class action, claim that

several of the court’s evidentiary rulings constituted an abuse of discretion, dispute the

restitution amount, contend that the district court erred by not granting a mistrial due to

the health problems of Gallion’s counsel, and argue that Cunningham should have been

allowed to waive his constitutional right to a unanimous verdict. We will address each

of these issues in turn below.

A. Sufficiency of the evidence

1. Standard of review

Gallion first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions

for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. We review de novo a district

court’s denial of a motion for acquittal based on the insufficiency of the evidence, United

States v. Mabry, 518 F.3d 442, 447 (6th Cir. 2008), and must affirm the district court’s
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 14

decision if, “after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution,

any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a

reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979) (emphasis in original).

Because we may not independently weigh the evidence or “substitute our judgment for

that of the jury,” Johnson v. Mitchell, 585 F.3d 923, 931 (6th Cir. 2009), a defendant

making an insufficiency-of-the-evidence argument “bears a very heavy burden.” United

States v. Daniel, 329 F.3d 480, 485 (6th Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted).

2. Evidence of wire fraud

The crime of wire fraud consists of three elements, each of which must be proven

beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) “that the defendant devised or willfully participated in

a scheme to defraud”; (2) “that he used or caused to be used an interstate wire

communication in furtherance of the scheme”; and (3) “that he intended to deprive a

victim of money or property.” United States v. Faulkenberry, 614 F.3d 573, 581 (6th

Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). Gallion attacks the evidence as to the first

and second of these elements—the first by arguing that the evidence was insufficient to

support the jury’s conclusion that he had the requisite intent to defraud; the second by

arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s conclusion that the wire

transfers furthered the scheme to defraud (even assuming that there was such a scheme).

a. Intent to defraud

The first element covers the requisite mental state. A defendant must have been

part of “a scheme to defraud,” meaning “any plan or course of action by which someone

intends to deprive another . . . of money or property by means of false and fraudulent

pretenses, representations, or promises.” Id. (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks

omitted).

Gallion’s argument for why he lacked the intent to defraud is essentially that he

and Cunningham had little experience handling complex litigation and simply “got in

over our heads.” He thus attributes most of their unethical behavior—including setting

up the charitable trust, seeking 49 percent of the settlement in attorney fees, and
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 15

misrepresenting numerous facts to Judge Bamberger—to the misguided advice of

Chesley, upon whose expertise Gallion claims to have reasonably relied. And he further

attempts to immunize his conduct by pointing to the fact that Judge Bamberger signed

off on many of the actions that constituted the alleged scheme to defraud. As Gallion

sees the situation, his “good faith reliance on Chesley’s advice and guidance, as well as

Judge Bamberger’s approval of all significant aspects of the state court action, negated

any alleged criminal intent.”

 But Gallion’s interpretation of the evidence is just that: his interpretation. Such

a view is bolstered only if one draws all factual inferences in his favor. Viewing the

evidence as legally required—in the light most favorable to the government—there is

little doubt that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s conclusion that Gallion

intended to defraud his clients out of money that was rightfully theirs.

Consider just some of the evidence produced at trial. Testimony revealed that

Cunningham and Gallion directed their subordinates to conceal highly important

information about the settlement from their clients (including the total amount of the

settlement, the number of claimants sharing in it, and the method of allocation) and to

offer each claimant substantially less than his or her properly calculated share.

Moreover, according to the trial testimony, the lawyers misled some of their clients into

believing that there had been a successful renegotiation of their claims with AHP and

that a breach of the settlement’s confidentiality clause could lead to jail time. These

misrepresentations support the conclusion that Cunningham and Gallion participated in

a massive scheme to defraud their clients.

In addition, an employee of Mills testified that, one day after learning that the

KBA had applied to subpoena the lawyers’ bank-account records, Gallion ordered her

to destroy all documents related to the manner in which the individual clients’ claims

had been settled. And shortly before the Kentucky Supreme Court’s hearing to decide

whether to authorize the subpoenas, Cunningham and Gallion transferred approximately

$59 million from their personal bank accounts back into the escrow account. These

actions clearly indicate that Cunningham and Gallion knew that what they had done was
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 16

wrong, and further support the conclusion that they had intended to defraud their clients

out of millions of dollars.

As for Gallion’s alternative theory of the evidence, two further points deserve

mention here. The first is that the “evidence need not exclude every reasonable

explanation except that of guilt” to sustain a conviction. United States v. Gonzalez, 512

F.3d 285, 294 (6th Cir. 2008). So even if Gallion’s explanation for his actions was

plausible, his convictions for wire fraud would still be supported by sufficient evidence.

Second, when viewed in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence

severely undermines Gallion’s explanation of the pertinent events. Gallion submits that

he reasonably relied on Chesley’s expertise throughout the settlement and postsettlement processes. But that does not explain why Gallion asked the judge to authorize

attorney fees of 49 percent when Gallion had already taken lower retainer-based fees

using his clients’ calculated (but not actual) recovery amounts. Nor does it explain why

he concealed important details of the settlement from his clients or misrepresented other

information to them, including the amount of excess funds that would be deposited into

the charitable trust.

Moreover, Gallion cannot justifiably rely on the “rubber stamp” orders signed

by Judge Bamberger. The judge’s own testimony indicates that he was consistently

misled about the settlement’s details. He was not told that Cunningham, Gallion, and

Mills had already received attorney fees according to their retainer agreements—or that

they even had retainer agreements—when he authorized the 49-percent figure; he was

not informed that the lawyers were being investigated by the KBA for their handling of

the case; and he was told that the clients were aware of and “thrilled” by the $20-million

charitable contribution to establish the Fund. This testimony provides a powerful

rebuttal to Gallion’s professions of passivity and good-faith reliance on Judge

Bamberger’s orders.

Finally, Gallion contends that his actions immediately after learning of the

KBA’s investigation were in fact motivated by an unrelated occurrence: the Third

Circuit Court of Appeals’ approval of the nationwide class-action settlement, which
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 17

happened around the same time. He claims that the $59 million that he and Cunningham

transferred back into the escrow account had been set aside to cover any liability that

might arise as a consequence of the Kentucky settlement’s indemnity provision. As he

testified at trial, he feared that if the nationwide class action fell apart, he (along with

Cunningham and Mills) could end up on the hook to AHP for tens of millions of dollars

to indemnify it for claims brought by Kentucky plaintiffs who were part of the

nationwide class action. The Third Circuit’s affirmance of the nationwide class-action

settlement apparently allayed these fears.

But the Kentucky settlement’s indemnification provision, which is contained in

the side letter to the settlement agreement, was expressly limited to $7.5 million—an

amount that the lawyers had already set aside. Moreover, the $59 million had been

transferred from the escrow account into the lawyers’ personal accounts, which suggests

that they never intended to give any of it back to their clients. Gallion’s proffered

explanations also fail to explain the lies and misrepresentations that he and the other

lawyers made to numerous clients about the details of the settlement. The evidence

presented at trial was therefore sufficient for a reasonable juror to conclude that

Gallion’s explanation for his actions was simply not credible, and that he had formed the

intent to defraud beyond a reasonable doubt.

b. Interstate wire communications in furtherance of the scheme

Gallion next argues that even if the evidence were sufficient to support a finding

of intent to defraud, it was insufficient to support the conclusion that he used interstate

wire communications in furtherance of the alleged scheme. In making this argument,

Gallion concedes that he and Cunningham engaged in interstate wire communications

when they accepted director fees from the Fund. But he disputes that these

communications were made in furtherance of the scheme.

Gallion’s argument rests on an overly narrow definition of the scheme to defraud

that was alleged in this case. According to Gallion, the wire transfers occurred after the

fraud was complete because, by that time, the clients had already been deprived of their

money. But the fraudulent scheme as alleged by the government was not simply that the
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 18

lawyers intended to deprive their clients of money; it was that the lawyers intended to

deprive their clients of money and then retain that money for themselves. Defined in this

manner, the scheme clearly encompassed the wire transfers of settlement funds from the

escrow account to the defendants’ personal bank accounts, some of which were located

outside Kentucky. Similarly, the scheme included the wire transfers of director fees,

which were taken from funds rightfully belonging to the clients, to the defendants’ bank

accounts. See United States v. Warshak, 631 F.3d 266, 311 (6th Cir. 2010) (noting in

the analogous context of mail fraud that “the requirement of mailing in furtherance of

the scheme” is “fairly expansive” and includes mailings that are “incident to an essential

part of the scheme, or a step in the plot” (internal quotation marks omitted)). The

evidence supporting this element was therefore sufficient to sustain Gallion’s wire-fraud

convictions.

3. Evidence of conspiracy to commit wire fraud

This brings us to the last of Gallion’s insufficiency-of-the-evidence arguments:

his claim that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conspiracy conviction. To

secure a conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the government must prove

beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant “knowingly and willfully joined in an

agreement with at least one other person to commit an act of [wire] fraud and that there

was at least one overt act in furtherance of the agreement.” United States v. Jamieson,

427 F.3d 394, 402 (6th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted). Based on the facts

previously discussed, the evidence in this case was easily sufficient to support the

inference that the defendants agreed to participate in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

And the evidence was also sufficient to establish numerous overt acts in furtherance of

the conspiracy, as detailed above.

B. Timeliness of the indictments

Gallion next argues that both the original and superseding indictments issued

against him were barred by the five-year statute-of-limitations period. See 18 U.S.C.

§ 3282(a). “We review de novo a district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss an
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 19

indictment on statute of limitations grounds.” United States v. Watford, 468 F.3d 891,

908 (6th Cir. 2006).

The original indictment was issued in June 2007. It alleged that the conspiracy

to commit wire fraud lasted from May 2001 to June 2005, when the defendants stopped

receiving director fees from the charitable trust. The superseding indictment was issued

in September 2008, and it alleged the same facts. It also charged the defendants with

eight specific counts of wire fraud based on communications that occurred between

March and December 2004.

“Normally, the date of the last overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy alleged

in the indictment begins the clock for purposes of the five-year statute of limitations.”

United States v. Schaffer, 586 F.3d 414, 423 (6th Cir. 2009) (brackets and internal

quotation marks omitted). But the duration of the scheme to defraud is a question of fact

for the jury. See Sixth Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction § 3.12. In this case, the

indictments alleged that the last overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy took place in

June 2005, and there was ample evidence for the jury to so find. See United States v.

Gibson, 409 F.3d 325, 336 (6th Cir. 2005) (holding that, although the jury did not

specify the acts upon which it convicted the defendant, there was “ample evidence” that

the defendants committed the last overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy within the

statute-of-limitations period). The indictments were therefore timely.

 Gallion’s argument to the contrary rests on the same flawed premise as his

insufficiency-of-the-evidence argument: that the “fraud ended when the second and final

distribution was made to the clients, the attorneys took their fees, or, at the very least,

when the remaining monies were set aside for the creation of the Cy Pres Trust.” But

Gallion was paid director fees until June 2005. “[C]ase law gives ample support to the

proposition that payment is an integral and often final term in a conspiracy.” Schaffer,

586 F.3d at 424 (internal quotation marks omitted). Because Gallion’s argument fails

to account for that proposition, he cannot show that the indictments in this case were

barred by the five-year statute of limitations.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 20

C. The nature of the settlement

Cunningham and Gallion next assert that the district court violated their Sixth

Amendment rights to a jury trial, their due process rights to present a defense, and the

law-of-the-case doctrine when the court instructed the jury that the state-court settlement

was “an aggregate settlement of 440 claims” rather than a class-action settlement. We

review de novo a claim that a district court’s ruling violates the Constitution. See United

States v. Davis, 577 F.3d 660, 666 (6th Cir. 2009) (Sixth Amendment); United States v.

Tarwater, 308 F.3d 494, 507 (6th Cir. 2002) (due process). But a claim that the district

court violated the law-of-the-case doctrine is subject to the more deferential abuse-ofdiscretion standard of review. Rouse v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 300 F.3d 711, 715 (6th

Cir. 2002).

1. Constitutional claims

“The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that no one

will be deprived of liberty without ‘due process of law’; and the Sixth, that ‘in all

criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by

an impartial jury.’” United States v. Gaudin, 515 U.S. 506, 509-10 (1995) (brackets

omitted). Cunningham and Gallion argue that the district court violated these

constitutional provisions by deciding, as a matter of law, that the state-court settlement

“was an aggregate settlement of 440 claims” and not a class-action settlement.

Their argument takes the form of a syllogism: (A) the nature of the settlement

agreement is a mixed question of law and fact, in that it involves the application of law

to fact; (B) mixed questions of law and fact are for the jury to decide; (C) the nature of

the settlement was therefore for the jury to decide. The government responds by

disagreeing with premises A and B of the syllogism.

As to premise A, the government contends that “the legal characterization of the

defendants’ settlement agreement with AHP—as an aggregate settlement or a class

action settlement—was a question of law” because “the answer to that question did not

turn on factual issues.” It instead “depended on the plain language of the agreement.”
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 21

And if the question was one of law, then it was one for the judge to decide. See Gaudin,

515 U.S. at 513 (noting the century-old precedent that “[i]n criminal cases, as in

civil, . . . the judge must be permitted to instruct the jury on the law and to insist that the

jury follow his instructions”); see also United States v. Mentz, 840 F.2d 315, 319 (6th

Cir. 1988) (“The trial judge instructs the jury on the law applicable to the issues raised

and, in appropriate circumstances, may comment on the evidence.” (footnote omitted)).

The problem with the government’s view is that “[t]here is no categorical

distinction between ‘legal’ and ‘factual’ questions, for in every case application of a

legal principle turns on the presence of particular facts.” United States v. Johnson, 718

F.2d 1317, 1321 (5th Cir. 1983) (en banc) (footnote omitted); see also Pullman-Standard

v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 288 (1982) (noting the “vexing nature of the distinction between

questions of fact and questions of law”). Whether the settlement agreement at issue here

was an aggregate settlement or a class-action settlement “depends upon the probative

value of evidence” produced at trial, including the settlement agreement itself, no matter

how clear that evidence may have seemed. See Johnson, 718 F.2d at 1324. The

defendants are therefore correct that the nature of the settlement is a mixed question of

law and fact, even if the mix weighs heavily on the “law” side.

This brings us to premise B of the defendants’ argument—that mixed questions

of law and fact are for the jury to decide. Underlying this premise is the basic precept

that “the jury’s constitutional responsibility is not merely to determine the facts, but to

apply the law to those facts and draw the ultimate conclusion of guilt or innocence.” See

Gaudin, 515 U.S. at 514. For this reason, “the application-of-legal-standard-to-fact sort

of question . . . , commonly called a ‘mixed question of law and fact,’ has typically been

resolved by juries.” Id. at 512.

But context matters:

It is commonplace for the same mixed question of law and fact to be

assigned to the court for one purpose, and to the jury for another. The

question of probable cause to conduct a search, for example, is resolved

by the judge when it arises in the context of a motion to suppress

evidence obtained in the search; but by the jury when it is one of the
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 22

elements of the crime of depriving a person of constitutional rights under

color of law.

Id. at 521. In other words, the question of whether the judge or a jury decides an issue

“rests not on a distinction between questions of law and questions of fact, but rather the

issue is the role of the jury in the trial guaranteed to the accused.” United States v. White

Horse, 807 F.2d 1426, 1430 (8th Cir. 1986) (brackets and internal quotation marks

omitted).

As to that issue, the caselaw provides a clear answer: “The Constitution gives

a criminal defendant the right to have a jury determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, his

guilt of every element of the crime with which he is charged.” Gaudin, 515 U.S. at 522-

23 (emphasis added); see also Mentz, 840 F.2d at 320 (“There can be little doubt that a

trial judge commits error of constitutional magnitude when he instructs the jury as a

matter of law that a fact essential to conviction has been established by the evidence,

thus depriving the jury of the opportunity to make this finding.” (internal quotation

marks omitted)). Under this rule, if a mixed question of law and fact constitutes an

element of the offense, the question goes to the jury; if it does not, then the judge may

resolve the question without invading the jury’s province.

The defendants in this case were charged with the crimes of wire fraud and

conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Neither of these crimes contains as an element of the

offense the requirement that the fraud occur in connection with an aggregate settlement.

See Part II.A. above (setting forth the elements of the offenses). Indeed, the judge in the

first trial assumed that the state-court action was settled as a class-action settlement, and

yet the jury was still free to find that the defendants were guilty. And the opposite is

also true: the jury in the second trial was free to find that the defendants were not guilty

even though the judge ruled that the state-court action was settled as an aggregate

settlement. That is, the judge’s instructions did not “ha[ve] the effect of relieving the

government of its burden of proving, beyond the jury’s reasonable doubt, that the

accused committed the crimes charged.” See Mentz, 840 F.2d at 320 (emphasis in

original). As the government correctly points out, the defendants “were free to—and
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 23

did—argue that they did not intend to defraud their clients because they did not know

that they were subject to the requirements of the aggregate settlement rule.” They just

could not “argue that the rule did not apply in the first place.”

To be sure, the mixed question of law and fact at issue in the present case bears

on—even if it is not determinative of—an element of the crimes with which the

defendants were charged. It determines whether the defendants violated Kentucky’s

aggregate-settlement rule, which in turn is evidence of an intent to defraud. But it does

so in the same way as do questions regarding the admissibility of evidence, the

competency of witnesses, and the voluntariness of confessions. And yet judges routinely

make theses kinds of decisions. See Gaudin, 515 U.S. at 525-26 (Rehnquist, C.J.,

concurring).

Here, the district court ruled that the state-court settlement was an aggregate

settlement, not a class-action settlement, because the agreement by its own terms

covered the claims of a specific number of known individuals and not the claims of

anyone else. That ruling finds support in the state court’s treatment of the settlement,

including that court’s failure to direct notice to all class members after approving the

settlement, as would ordinarily have been required by Rule 23.05 of the Kentucky Rules

of Civil Procedure had the case been settled as a class action. And the district court’s

ruling finds further support in the defendants’ own admissions to the KBA; specifically,

their admission that they violated Kentucky’s aggregate-settlement rule, which does not

apply to class-action settlements. In short, the district court’s ruling was correct as a

matter of law and did not invade the province of the jury or otherwise violate the

defendants’ constitutional rights.

2. Law-of-the-case doctrine

The defendants argue in the alternative that the district court’s ruling violates the

law-of-the-case doctrine, which holds that “a decision on an issue made by a court at one

stage of a case should be given effect in successive stages of the same litigation.” United

States v. Todd, 920 F.2d 399, 403 (6th Cir. 1990). “This doctrine applies with equal

vigor to the decisions of a coordinate court in the same case and to a court’s own
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 24

decisions,” and “can be applied to rulings made in a case that ends in a mistrial.” Id. at

403, 404.

The key word here is “can.” “Unlike stare decisis or collateral estoppel, the ‘law

of the case’ doctrine is not a rigid rule. Rather, it is a discretionary tool that courts use

to promote efficiency.” United States v. Perez, 178 F.3d 1297 (table), 1999 WL 196501,

at *3 (6th Cir. 1999) (unpublished opinion). And a court’s discretion to use this tool is

at its apex in the context of a retrial following a mistrial, because a retrial of a case is

exactly what it says; it is a retrial, not a replay. See United States v. Palmer, 122 F.3d

215, 221 (5th Cir. 1997) (“A retrial following a mistrial is both in purpose and effect a

new trial. . . . [T]he two are entirely separate affairs.”). A district court “retains the

power to reconsider previously decided issues as they arise in the context of a new trial.”

Todd, 920 F.2d at 404. 

In applying this standard to the facts of the present case, we find no abuse of

discretion. The district judge in the first trial assumed that the state-court lawsuit was

settled as a class action. A different district judge in the second trial undertook his own

evaluation of the issue and determined just the opposite. We are persuaded that the latter

determination was the correct one and thus find no error on this issue.

D. Exclusion of proposed expert testimony

The defendants next claim that the district court impermissibly excluded the

testimony of their proposed expert witness, attorney Richard L. Robbins. Robbins

testified as an expert witness in the first trial and, the defendants assert, should have been

permitted to do so again. We review a district court’s ruling “excluding expert

testimony under an abuse-of-discretion standard.” United States v. Martinez, 588 F.3d

301, 323 (6th Cir. 2009).
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 25

1. Robbins’s proposed testimony

The written report submitted by Robbins lists his extensive experience litigating

complex business matters, including class actions. Drawing on that experience, he

sought to provide opinions regarding

the responsibility to provide notice to the putative class members;

whether the class action was properly decertified; whether Mr. Gallion

could properly hold back settlement funds for future contingencies

pursuant to a settlement agreement; the propriety of attorney fees in

awards in class actions or mass plaintiff actions; and whether a “cy pres”

distribution of settlement funds is an appropriate practice in class action

[sic].

(Emphasis in original.) In particular, Robbins sought to testify that, based on his review

of the case, the state-court action was extremely complicated and that, although the

defendants’ actions “were clearly innovative,” they “do not show a violation of law, and

certainly [are] not indicative of any intent to defraud or other wrongful motive.” He also

opined that the defendants were justified in relying on the advice and guidance of

Chesley and the orders issued by Judge Bamberger; that the state-court action was

settled as a “quasi-class action”; that “it would be difficult, if not impossible, to establish

that there was any intent to violate class action law”; that “there was nothing improper”

about the cy pres distribution; and that any dispute between the clients and the

defendants over attorney fees “is a civil matter that should be . . . handled in a civil

setting.”

Robbins added in his report that he thought the defendants “had an arguable

basis” for “retaining certain payments above and beyond the percentages set forth in the

settlement agreements.” He gave two reasons for this conclusion. The first was the side

letter, which Robbins read as placing no limitation on the amount of the indemnification.

And the second was the state court’s approval of the defendants’ request for attorney

fees, which Robbins thought made “it appropriate for . . . counsel to rely on such

approval.”
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 26

After reviewing Robbins’s report, the district court conducted a Daubert hearing

and—in a memorandum opinion prepared prior to the hearing and released a few

minutes thereafter—concluded that “Robbins is not qualified to testify to the opinions

sought to be introduced by the Defendants” and, further, that “even if he were qualified,

the opinions Robbins seeks to express are inadmissible for a variety of reasons.” United

States v. Gallion, 257 F.R.D. 141, 144 (E.D. Ky. Mar. 30, 2009). The court therefore

excluded the testimony in its entirety.

2. Whether Robbins qualified as an expert

We first consider whether the district court abused its discretion when it ruled

that Robbins was not qualified to testify as an expert. Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of

Evidence provides the touchstone for expert testimony. That rule, which reflects the

Supreme Court’s decisions in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S.

579 (1993), and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999), reads as follows:

A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience,

training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise

if:

(a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will

help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in

issue;

(b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;

(c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and

(d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts

of the case.

Fed. R. Evid. 702.

Under this rule, “expert witnesses must be qualified to testify to a matter relevant

to the case.” Surles ex rel. Johnson v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 474 F.3d 288, 293 (6th

Cir. 2007). “[A] proffering party can qualify their expert with reference to his

‘knowledge, skill, experience, training or education.’” Id. The defendants sought to

qualify Robbins based on his record of participation in numerous class actions and multi-
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 27

plaintiff cases. But the district court refused to qualify him as an expert, citing

“concerns about qualifying Robbins, or any witness, as an expert on an area of the law

solely on the basis of work experience in a particular area.” Gallion, 257 F.R.D. at 148.

The court supported its ruling by quoting Cicero v. Borg-Warner Auto., Inc., 163 F.

Supp. 2d 743 (E.D. Mich. 2001), where the district court noted that “something more

than time in practice would be required to qualify an attorney as an expert in a given

specialty,” id. at 749 n.7.

Cunningham and Gallion argue that the district court’s refusal to qualify Robbins

as an expert was erroneous because, under the plain language of Rule 702, experience

alone may be enough to qualify a witness as an expert. To a certain degree they are

right—experience alone may be enough. Indeed, “the text of Rule 702 expressly

contemplates that an expert may be qualified on the basis of experience.” Fed. R. Evid.

702 advisory committee’s notes (2000 amendments); see also Kumho, 526 U.S. at 156

(“[N]o one denies that an expert might draw a conclusion from a set of observations

based on extensive and specialized expertise.”).

But “may” does not mean “must.” Whether a proposed expert’s experience is

sufficient to qualify the expert to offer an opinion on a particular subject depends on the

nature and extent of that experience. Compare United States v. Lupton, 620 F.3d 790,

799 (7th Cir. 2010) (noting that a proposed expert’s “thirty-year distance from the dayto-day goings-on in the brokerage world and lack of experience with the statutes and

contract at issue in this case call into question the extent to which [he is qualified] to

render an opinion” on the industry standards of practices among local real-estate

brokers), with First Union Nat’l Bank v. Benham, 423 F.3d 855, 862-63 (8th Cir. 2005)

(holding that an attorney with over 36 years of experience practicing in the area of

mergers and acquisitions was qualified to provide expert testimony on the issue of legal

malpractice in that field).

The question in the present case, therefore, is whether Robbins’s experience

litigating complex business matters was sufficiently “extensive and specialized” to

qualify him as an expert on complex litigation, class actions, and mass-tort cases. See
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 28

Kumho, 526 U.S. at 156. In deciding that he lacked the necessary qualifications, the

district court noted that Robbins did not show that he had “written or spoken

professionally on any of the issues on which he [sought] to offer opinions.” Gallion, 257

F.R.D. at 148. “Without these or other differentiating factors,” the court reasoned, “there

is nothing to set Robbins apart from any other lawyer with experience as an advocate in

a particular area of law,” and “[s]urely, not every lawyer with such experience qualifies

as an expert in his or her practice area.” Id.

We agree that not every lawyer with experience as an advocate in a particular

area of law necessarily qualifies as an expert in his or her practice area. But Robbins’s

experience, which consisted of nearly 30 years in business litigation and included

involvement in numerous class actions and multi-plaintiff cases, is far more substantial

than the typical attorney’s. And any deficiencies in his professional background or

credentials could have been probed on cross-examination—“the traditional and

appropriate means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence.” See Daubert v. Merrell

Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 596 (1993). We therefore have grave doubt about the

soundness of excluding Robbins’s testimony on the basis that he was not qualified as an

expert.

The district court, however, provided an alternative basis for excluding Robbins’s

testimony that is distinct from his potential lack of sufficient expertise. Because we

think that this alternative basis fits more readily within the court’s “broad discretion” to

make admissibility determinations, see Surles, 474 F.3d at 295, we will assume without

deciding that Robbins qualified as an expert. We now turn to the court’s alternative

basis for excluding his testimony.

3. Whether Robbins’s testimony was inadmissible for other reasons

Qualifying an expert by “knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education”

is only the first hurdle to clear under Rule 702. An expert’s proposed testimony must

meet two additional requirements to be admissible: it must be (1) relevant, meaning that

the testimony “will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact

in issue,” and (2) reliable. Fed. R. Evid. 702; see also In re Scrap Metal Antitrust Litig.,
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 29

527 F.3d 517, 529 (6th Cir. 2008). In making these dual determinations, the district

court acts “in the role of ‘gatekeeper’” and must “evaluat[e] the relevance and reliability

of proffered expert testimony with heightened care.” Surles, 474 F.3d at 295. The court

below evaluated the relevance and reliability of Robbins’s testimony and concluded that

the testimony was in some places irrelevant, in some places unreliable, and in some

places both. This conclusion provides an adequate basis for excluding the testimony and

was not an abuse of discretion.

To begin with, Robbins’s proposed testimony was rooted in the belief that the

state-court lawsuit was settled as a “quasi-class action.” That belief was in direct

conflict with the district court’s legal conclusion that the case was settled as an aggregate

settlement, and thus Robbins’s opinions relating to class actions—including how they

are usually settled, the frequency of cy pres distributions in class-action settlements, and

the rights of class members—would have been both irrelevant and confusing to the jury.

Moreover, Robbins’s testimony from the first trial contained numerous

misstatements of the law. He took the position, for example, that even if Kentucky’s

aggregate-settlement rule applied to the settlement, the defendants did not have to

comply with the rule because, “[i]n my opinion, it would have been extremely risky for

these lawyers to disclose the entire settlement amount to these claimants. And in my

opinion, I think it has little, if no relevance to the claimants.” Robbins also explained

that the defendants did not need to provide notice to the class prior to the dismissal of

the class action. Both of these statements are in conflict with Kentucky law. See Ky.

Sup. Ct. R. 3.130(1.8)(g) (the aggregate-settlement rule); Ky. R. Civ. P. 23.05 (requiring

notice prior to the dismissal of a class action).

Robbins’s report contained additional legal misstatements. To take just one

example, he believed that the defendants were justified in “retaining certain payments

above and beyond the percentages set forth in the settlement agreements,” in part

because he read the side letter’s indemnity provision as placing no limitation on the

amount of potential indemnification. But this is not a correct interpretation of the side

letter. The last sentence of the side letter makes clear that “the Settling Attorney and
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 30

Settling Claimants shall not be obligated to indemnify AHP for attorneys fees and

expenses nor for any amount in excess of $7,500,000.” (Emphasis added.) This

sentence places a hard cap on any indemnification amount and, properly understood, did

not give the defendants license to set aside more than $7,500,000 of the settlement

amount to cover potential indemnification.

Gallion testified that he somehow misread or misunderstood the side letter’s final

sentence. But Robbins did not seek to testify as to Gallion’s understanding of the side

letter at the time that it was signed (about which Robbins was in no position to know).

Robbins instead sought to testify as to the legal effect of the document. On this point,

he was simply wrong. And the district judge—the only person in the courtroom vested

with the authority to definitively interpret the law—did not abuse his discretion by

excluding this and other legal misstatements under Rule 702.

Finally, in his report, Robbins offered his opinion that the defendants lacked the

requisite criminal intent to defraud. The district court properly refused to admit this

opinion and others like it on the ground that they were impermissible under Rule 704(b)

of the Federal Rules of Evidence. See Fed. R. Evid. 704(b) (“In a criminal case, an

expert witness must not state an opinion about whether the defendant did or did not have

a mental state or condition that constitutes an element of the crime charged or of a

defense. Those matters are for the trier of fact alone.”).

Despite all these problems with Robbins’s testimony, the defendants nevertheless

lodge three objections to the district court’s decision to exclude the same. The first

concerns the timing of the district court’s memorandum opinion, which was released a

few minutes after the Daubert hearing had concluded. According to the defendants, the

district court erred by arriving at the hearing with a written opinion already in hand,

particularly because there was no expectation that the judge would immediately issue a

ruling at the end of the hearing.

But even if, under such circumstances, the better practice is for judges to prepare

their written opinions after having had the benefit of hearing the parties orally argue their

positions, this does not mean that the district court erred by not doing so here. The
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 31

defendants cite no authority for the proposition that a district court’s decision to prepare

an opinion in advance of a hearing is grounds to set aside that opinion on appeal. This

proposition seems especially dubious in the context of a Daubert hearing, a hearing that

this court has held is not even required where “the record on the expert testimony was

extensive, and the Daubert issue was fully briefed.” In re Scrap Metal Antitrust Litig.,

527 F.3d 517, 532 (6th Cir. 2008).

The district judge here presumably used the Daubert hearing as a final

opportunity for the defendants to dissuade him from the analysis set forth in the tentative

opinion, an endeavor in which they were obviously unsuccessful. Their lack of success,

however, provides them with no basis to set aside the ruling. We therefore reject the

defendants’ first argument.

The defendants’ second argument is that, even if Robbins’s testimony contained

incorrect statements of the law and other inadmissible opinions, the district court “should

have simply limited Robbins’s testimony on those particular areas rather than reject his

opinions wholesale.” But we find this argument equally unpersuasive. The court

undertook a thorough analysis of nearly every sentence of Robbins’s report and provided

adequate reasons for excluding all of his major points. Had Robbins’s testimony been

limited to what the court concluded was permissible, he would have been left with

nothing useful to tell the jury. The district court did not abuse its discretion by

preventing this pointless exercise.

This leads to the last of the defendants’s objections—that “the jury should have

been allowed to hear Mr. Robbins’ testimony on the actual practice of attorneys, as

opposed to merely [the] ‘ivory tower’ ideals” of the government’s expert witness,

Professor Howard M. Erichson. Professor Erichson testified that, based on his review

of the documents related to the state-court action and on his expertise as a law professor

specializing in complex litigation and legal ethics, he was of the opinion that the case

was settled not as a class action but as an aggregate settlement. He further testified

regarding the ethical obligations that arose as a consequence of this determination,

including the defendants’ duty to comply with Kentucky’s aggregate-settlement rule.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 32

The district court allowed Professor Erichson’s testimony because the court

concluded that he had accurately stated the law and that his testimony would be helpful

to the jury. Although the defendants may see this as expressing a preference for “ivory

tower” ideals, the district judge was under no obligation to allow into evidence

irrelevant, unreliable, and potentially confusing testimony for the sole purpose of

leveling the playing field. The judge had the authority to agree with one side and not the

other on a particular interpretation of the law. In sum, the court did not abuse its

considerable discretion in prohibiting Robbins from testifying as an expert witness.

E. Testimony related to the KBA’s disciplinary investigation

The defendants also argue that the district court erred when it admitted certain

testimony relating to the KBA’s investigation into the defendants’ handling of the

settlement. A district court’s evidentiary rulings will generally not be reversed unless

the court abused its discretion. United States v. Davis, 577 F.3d 660, 666 (6th Cir.

2009). But “where the evidentiary issues relate to a claimed violation of the Sixth

Amendment,” the de novo standard of review applies. Id.

1. The district court’s evidentiary rulings

Linda Gosnell handled the KBA’s investigation of the defendants and testified

about the investigation at trial. In her testimony, she (1) provided a summary of the

relevant Kentucky ethics rules; (2) gave details related to the KBA’s investigation;

(3) recounted the defendants’ admissions to the Kentucky Supreme Court; and (4) read

directly from the Kentucky Supreme Court’s disbarment decisions with regard to

Cunningham and Gallion, including portions of the Court’s factual findings. Gosnell did

not read the allegations contained in the decisions—the 22 ethical violations charged to

each defendant—but the government concedes that some of these allegations were

shown to the jury during Gosnell’s testimony.

The defendants unsuccessfully objected to this testimony in the district court.

They moved for a mistrial after Gosnell had testified, arguing that they had no

opportunity to rebut the information contained in the disbarment opinions and that the
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 33

testimony violated both Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Confrontation

Clause of the Sixth Amendment. The district court denied the mistrial motion.

But the district court later redacted the factual findings and charges from the

copy of the disbarment opinions given to the jury and instructed the jury to consider

Gosnell’s testimony “only to the extent that she was able to authenticate the documents

as Kentucky Supreme Court opinions.” Moreover, the court instructed the jury that,

“[s]tanding alone, a violation of an ethical rule is not evidence or proof that a defendant

committed the criminal acts alleged in the indictment,” in part because “the burden of

proof used to render the [Kentucky Supreme Court’s disbarment decisions] is different

from the burden of proof used in this trial.”

2. Admissibility of the evidence

On appeal, the defendants raise several arguments as to why the district court’s

evidentiary rulings were in error. They claim that (1) their admissions to the KBA were

barred by Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence; (2) Gosnell’s recitation of the

factual findings from the disbarment decisions was hearsay and violated the defendants’

Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses; and (3) the charging allegations

contained in the disbarment decisions were inadmissible under Rule 403.

As to the first argument, the defendants’ admissions to the KBA were relevant

to the case and admissible as a party’s own statement under Rule 801(d)(2)(A) of the

Federal Rules of Evidence (permitting a party’s own statement to be offered as evidence

against that party even where the statement would otherwise be inadmissible as hearsay).

So the only possible barrier to admissibility is Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of

Evidence, which provides in pertinent part that a district court “may exclude relevant

evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of . . . unfair

prejudice, confusing the issues, [or] misleading the jury.”

“In reviewing whether evidence is admissible under Rule 403, this court looks

at the evidence in a light most favorable to its proponent, maximizing its probative value

and minimizing its prejudicial effect.” United States v. Fraser, 448 F.3d 833, 840 (6th
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 34

Cir. 2006) (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted). The probative value of the

admissions in this case was high. Even Cunningham concedes as much. The question

is whether that high probative value was “substantially outweighed by a danger of . . .

unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, [or] misleading the jury.” See Fed. R. Evid. 403

(emphasis added).

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, the

defendants have failed to meet this heavy burden. At trial, the defendants’ theory of the

case was that they relied in good faith on Chesley and Judge Bamberger and did not

know that Kentucky’s aggregate-settlement and other ethical rules applied to the

settlement. The defendants were able to present this theory to the jury despite the fact

that their admissions of wrongdoing to the Kentucky Supreme Court were introduced

into evidence. In addition, the district court limited the prejudicial impact of the

admissions by instructing the jury that “proof of an ethical violation is not conclusive as

to whether a criminal violation occurred.” “[J]uries are presumed to follow their

instructions,” Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. 200, 211 (1987), and the record provides

no basis to believe that the jury here did otherwise.

The defendants’ second objection relates to the admissibility of the factual

findings from the disbarment decisions, which Gosnell read aloud to the jury. Here, the

defendants stand on firmer ground. But even assuming that the admission of these

factual findings constituted inadmissible hearsay and violated the Sixth Amendment’s

Confrontation Clause, the defendants’ argument would still fail because any error was

harmless. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a) (stating that any error “that does not affect

substantial rights must be disregarded”); United States v. Henderson, 626 F.3d 326, 333

(6th Cir. 2010) (noting that “violations of the Confrontation Clause are subject to

harmless error analysis”).

The evidence of the defendants’ guilt in this case was overwhelming and

independently supported all the factual findings from the disbarment proceedings. For

example, the Kentucky Supreme Court determined that many of the defendants’ clients

were told that they could go to jail if they discussed the terms of the settlement with
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 35

others, but this fact had already been established by the trial testimony of numerous

clients. The Kentucky Supreme Court also found that some of the settlement money had

been improperly deposited by the defendants into their personal bank accounts, but that

determination too had been established by other evidence, including the defendants’

admissions, bank records, and client testimony.

In other words, the factual findings in the disbarment decisions were “cumulative

of information that was properly admitted.” See Hamblin v. Mitchell, 354 F.3d 482, 496

(6th Cir. 2003). Moreover, the district court ultimately instructed the jury to disregard

the part of Gosnell’s testimony that included these factual findings. And the court

redacted the findings from the copy of the disbarment decisions given to the jury for its

deliberations. Any error regarding the findings therefore did not affect the defendants’

“substantial rights” and “must be disregarded.” See Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a).

The defendants further object to the admissibility of the allegations charged in

the disbarment decisions, some of which were briefly shown to the jury while Gosnell

testified. Here, too, any error was harmless. Gosnell did not read the allegations aloud

to the jury, the allegations were redacted from the jury’s copy of the disbarment

decisions, and the other evidence of guilt was overwhelming.

F. Cross-examination of witnesses

The defendants next contend that their constitutional rights were violated when

they were precluded from asking questions on cross-examination related to any KBA

disciplinary investigations into the conduct of Judge Bamberger, Chesley, and Helmers.

“We review a district court’s decision to limit the scope of cross-examination under the

abuse-of-discretion standard.” United States v. Howard, 621 F.3d 433, 456 (6th Cir.

2010).

“A criminal defendant has the constitutional right to confront the witnesses

against him, but this right is not absolute.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “On

the contrary, trial judges retain wide latitude insofar as the Confrontation Clause is

concerned to impose reasonable limits on such cross-examination based on concerns
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 36

about, among other things, harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, the witness’[s]

safety, or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant.” Delaware v. Van

Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679 (1986).

The defendants argue that the district court in this case exceeded its “wide

latitude” because the court effectively precluded defense counsel from cross-examining

Judge Bamberger, Chesley, or Helmers “regarding any potential disciplinary proceedings

against them, a fact that potentially may have demonstrated bias and motive on the part

of these witnesses.” But this argument fails to take into account two important

considerations.

First, the district court’s limitation on cross-examination was based on a sound

reason: disciplinary proceedings are confidential in Kentucky until there has been a

determination that an ethical violation actually occurred. See Ky. Sup. Ct. R. 3.150(1).

And second, “the jury had enough information to assess the defense’s theory of the case

despite the limits placed on cross-examination.” See United States v. Holden, 557 F.3d

698, 704 (6th Cir. 2009). The defendants were able to question the witnesses about

possible bias—including the prosecutorial immunity that Chesley and Helmers received

in exchange for their testimony—and the court instructed the jury to consider with “more

caution” the testimony of Chesley and Helmers for this reason. On these facts, there was

no abuse of discretion.

G. Amount of restitution

Gallion also appeals the amount of restitution ordered by the district court,

claiming that it was excessive, unduly punitive, and not supported by the evidence. We

review the amount of restitution ordered by the district court for an abuse of discretion.

United States v. Bogart, 576 F.3d 565, 569 (6th Cir. 2009).

The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996, codified at 18 U.S.C.

§§ 3663A-3664, provides that the district court, when sentencing a defendant who has

committed a crime such as fraud, “shall order restitution to each victim in the full

amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the court and without consideration of
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 37

the economic circumstances of the defendant.” Id. § 3664(f)(1)(A). Here, the district

court complied with this provision, ordering the defendants to pay $127,678,834.05 in

restitution to their fen-phen clients. This sum was calculated based on the total amount

that the clients were entitled to under the settlement, without any reduction for the

attorney fees that the defendants were due to receive according to their respective

retainer agreements.

In making this calculation, the district court relied on United States v. Hoglund,

178 F.3d 410 (6th Cir. 1999). Hoglund involved an attorney who settled his clients’

claims without their permission, forged their signatures on settlement checks, and

deposited the money into his personal account. He was subsequently found guilty of

bank fraud in federal district court and was ordered to pay restitution to his victims.

On appeal, Hoglund made the same argument that Gallion makes here: that the

district court erred by “not deduct[ing] from the restitution amount the one-third

contingent attorney fee pursuant to [his] contract with his clients.” Id. at 411. This court

rejected that argument, holding that “a settlement sum does not belong jointly to the

attorney and the client,” but “to the plaintiff alone.” Id. at 414. The court acknowledged

that the clients may each have a “separate contractual obligation to pay Hoglund a sum

equal to one-third of the settlement amount as a fee for his services.” Id. But “such

obligations,” the court made clear, “do not diminish the clients’ entitlement to the full

settlement amount.” Id. “If Hoglund is to receive the one-third contingency fee

arrangement to which he claims entitlement, he must enforce his contract, and he is free

to attempt to do so.” Id.

Hoglund’s holding is on all fours with the present case, and we are not free to

rule otherwise. See Salmi v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 774 F.2d 685, 689 (6th

Cir. 1985) (noting that “[a] panel of this Court cannot overrule the decision of another

panel . . . unless an inconsistent decision of the United States Supreme Court requires

modification of the decision or this Court sitting en banc overrules the prior decision”).

The district court therefore did not err in calculating the restitution amount based on the

total value of the settlement.
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 38

H. Mistrial due to counsel’s health problems

Gallion next argues that the district court should have declared a mistrial based

on his counsel’s health problems during trial. But Gallion did not move for a mistrial

in the district court, so his claim is reviewed “only for plain error.” See United States

v. Caver, 470 F.3d 220, 245 (6th Cir. 2006). This means that, in order to prevail, he

must show that the district court’s failure to declare a mistrial was a clear error that

affected his substantial rights and “that this adverse impact seriously affected the

fairness, integrity or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.” See United States

v. Eversole, 487 F.3d 1024, 1029 (6th Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Gallion has not even attempted to meet this high bar here, and any such attempt

would be futile. When his counsel became ill during the trial, the district court

appointed interim counsel to represent him and then continued the case. The trial

resumed when Gallion’s regular counsel returned a week later. We find no error, plain

or otherwise, in utilizing this procedure.

I. Waiver of Cunningham’s right to a unanimous verdict

Finally, Cunningham claims that a constitutional violation occurred during his

first trial when the district court refused to permit him to waive his constitutionally

protected right to a unanimous jury verdict. This question has created a split among the

circuits.

On one side is the rule adopted by the Eleventh Circuit in Sanchez v. United

States, 782 F.2d 928 (11th Cir. 1986), which holds that a criminal defendant may waive

his constitutional right to a unanimous verdict “under very limited circumstances,” so

long as certain criteria are met. See id. at 932-35. Cunningham asks us to adopt that rule

in this case.

But in doing so, Cunningham concedes that the Sixth Circuit has come down on

the other side of the split. In this circuit—as in every circuit to consider the issue other

than the Eleventh—verdicts in criminal cases must be unanimous. See, e.g., Hibdon v.

United States, 204 F.2d 834, 838 (6th Cir. 1953) (holding that “the right to a unanimous
Nos. 09-5987/5998 United States v. Cunningham et al. Page 39

verdict cannot under any circumstances be waived” and that “it is of the very essence of

our traditional concept of due process in criminal cases”). This court has reaffirmed that

fundamental rule at least once since 1953, see United States v. Smedes, 760 F.2d 109,

113 (6th Cir. 1985), and because the rule squarely decides the issue here, we do so again

now. See Salmi, 774 F.2d at 689.

III. CONCLUSION

For all the reasons set forth above, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district

court.