Class-action lawyer Stan Chesley dies in Ohio

CINCINNATI– Stanley Chesley, a class-action pioneer who attacked cigarette manufacturers and makers of defective breast implants until the end of his legal career amid accusations of unethical conduct, has died at the age of 89.

Chesley died Sunday at a long-term care facility in Cincinnati, according to his son, Richard Chesley. He did not provide the cause of death.

Chesley rose to fame after winning $50 million for victims of a 1975 electrical fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Kentucky, which killed 165 people. In addition to pursuing disco, he also took on the aluminum electrical wire industry, an unprecedented approach at the time.

Once one of the nation’s most powerful trial lawyers, he helped craft the nation’s $206 billion tobacco settlement in 1998 and also won settlements against the Catholic Church over sexual abuse allegations.

Chesley, who was based in Cincinnati, earned the nickname “Disaster Master” for his aggressive style and success in cases of plane crashes, fires and other tragedies.

During his five-decade career, he represented the families of the victims of the Pan Am terrorist attack over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988; workers at a Cold War nuclear power plant; and women who received Dow Corning silicone breast implants.

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Chesley said in an interview with the University of Cincinnati Magazine in 2010. “I don’t act from a position of fear. »

Chesley was also a prominent philanthropist and activist for civic causes, education, and Jewish organizations. He was a prolific fundraiser for politicians including Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

His career began to unravel during ethics investigations in Kentucky following the 2001 settlement of a $200 million lawsuit involving the makers of the fen-phen combination diet pill.

The Kentucky Supreme Court disbarred him in March 2013, concluding that Chesley had crossed the ethical line in the case. A judge then ordered Chesley to pay $42 million to settle allegations that he charged too much — $20 million in fees instead of the required $14 million.

Chesley has never been criminally charged, and he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

“Even though his good reputation and generous service have exacerbated the tragedy of his downfall, they cannot atone for the grave misconduct he committed in connection with this case,” Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton wrote in the 2013 disbarment.

Chesley avoided possible disbarment in his home state by retiring. His sworn declaration that he was ending his legal practice was made before his wife, U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott.

“The idea that Stan Chesley had such a remarkable legal career and that it had to end this way, I find just appalling,” said Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer and friend in Washington, DC. “It’s a personal tragedy.”

The son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Chesley grew up in Cincinnati. He worked as a shoe salesman to pay for law school and began practicing in 1960. He slowly built up his practice before assembling a group of plaintiffs to sue the manufacturers of aluminum cable and other products implicated in the wake of the Supper Club fire.

Years later, Chesley said he was pleased with how he helped the victims and their families in a case that also led to security reforms.

“Because of Beverly Hills, we have safer standards,” Chesley said in 2010. “I feel good about that.”

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Dan Sewell, a retired Associated Press journalist, was the primary writer of this obituary.