The lawsuit was filed by Napoli Bern on behalf of several individuals who are awaiting payment of damages from The Wyeth Settlement Trust, which was set up by Madison's Wyeth, formerly American Home Products, to resolve claims related to the fen-phen diet drugs Pondimin and Redux before they were pulled from the market in 1997.

In its complaint, the law firm has alleged that the trustees have frozen the claims and have adopted an arbitrary prioritization scheme that could result in a vast majority of the legitimate claims not being paid.

"This is in direct contradiction to the settlement, which agreed upon a "first in, first out" processing order," Napoli, Kaiser has alleged.

The trust's prioritization scheme, according to the lawsuit, includes providing priority treatment to claimants who filed on their own - without a lawyer - over claimants who have worked through a lawyer. Other criteria for prioritization include claimants who filed the two necessary forms before February 15, 2002, and claimants whose physicians attested fewer than 20 claims.

If a claimant worked with a physician who attested more than 20 claims, the Trust has added a new bar: the "Medical Practices Questionnaire", an 18-page detailed questionnaire that must be personally filled out by the physician who attested to the individual's claim.

Of the 83,700 claims that have been filed, only 800 were certified by doctors who attested fewer than 20 claims, the law firm said.

"Our clients, who have long-standing, significant injuries from the use of this medication, have met all medical and legal criteria for payment and their claims have been approved," said Marc Bern, senior partner of Napoli, Kaiser, Bern.

"However, they've been told that their claims will not be processed and/or paid, due to a new 'Claims Integrity Program' and a 'Prioritization Scheme' that, in effect, allows the trustees to pick and choose who will receive benefits," he added.