Insurances.net
insurances.net » Auto Insurance » Injury Lawyer's Huge Fees May Get Him Disbarred
Auto Insurance Life Insurance Health Insurance Family Insurance Travel Insurance Mortgage Insurance Accident Insurance Buying Insurance Housing Insurance Personal Insurance Medical Insurance Property Insurance Pregnant Insurance Internet Insurance Mobile Insurance Pet Insurance Employee Insurance Dental Insurance Liability Insurance Baby Insurance Children Insurance Boat Insurance Cancer Insurance Insurance Quotes Others
]

Injury Lawyer's Huge Fees May Get Him Disbarred

Injury Lawyer's Huge Fees May Get Him Disbarred

Injury Lawyer's Huge Fees May Get Him Disbarred


In 1977, a fire burned througha popular nightclub in Southgate, Kentucky, killing 165 people and horribly scarring 200 more. A young lawyer,Stanley Chesley,filed a plaintiffs' lawsuit on behalf of the victims in that fire, advancing a novel theory of liability.

Rather than simply suing the Beverly Hills Supper Club for the insurance policy limits, Chesley fashioned a suit that included more than1000 defendants; the entire aluminum electrical wire industry. The tactic paid handsomely; over $50 million.

Thanks to this and other similar lawsuits, the mass-tort era was born. But Chesley did not stopwith thenightclub case. Incredibily, he was involved in several other big hits: breastimplant litigation, the tobacco settlement, drug manufacturing cases, even the Pan Am crash over Lockerbie Scotland. The sky was indeed the limit.

Chesley, licensed in Ohio and Kentucky,makes our own Geoffrey Fieger look like a first year law student. And like Feiger, Chesley is getting tangled-up in disciplinary actionswith the state bar where he practices.

The problem arose for Chesley when, in 1998, he allegedly muscled his way into the Fen-Phen drug product litigation in Kentucky. The Kentucky Bar Association investigated allegations that the attorneys involved in the case were misrepresenting the parameters of the settlement to their clients. Eventually, two of the lawyers involved went to prison and the judge on the case was forced off theBoone County Circuit Court bench.

The Kentucky Bar Association, having concluded a series of hearings, recommended this week that Chesley get disbarred and that he pay back more than $7.5 million in fees that it says were not within the scope of his fee agreement and therefore belongs to Chesney's Fen-Phen clients.

Allegedly, Chesney paid himself a multi-million dollar bonus after sweetening the lawyer fee portion of the drug settlement in an off-the-record meeting with the disgraced judge who presided over the case at the time.

The lawyer is appealing the recommendation to the Kentucky Supreme Court. Looks like whatever the outcome, greed apparently tainted a lot of talented legal professionalsin the underlying product liabilitycase.

Sad that this is a tale that is oft re-told in our time.
Birth Injury Attorney: A Compensation for Birth Injuries Supreme Court says lawsuits can proceed in lap-only seat belt injures Facial Paralysis as a Birth Injury How to Find a Best Birth Injury Attorney in USA Car Rental in Israel Auto Loans nationwide Why Shopping Around for Auto Insurance Works to Your Benefit Injuries Caused by Weight Lifting - Important Things You Might Not Be Aware of Is the cheapest auto insurance actually saving you money? Hybrid Water Power System-Hybrid Water Power Bob Volk Car Insurance Basics Terms Think hybrids are slow? Think again Utility Trucks and Their Uses
Write post print
www.insurances.net guest:  register | login | search IP(44.220.245.254) / Processed in 0.010760 second(s), 6 queries , Gzip enabled debug code: 18 , 2397, 952,
Injury Lawyer's Huge Fees May Get Him Disbarred