Sunday, March 24, 2013

PROMINENT CLASS ACTION ATTORNEY STANLEY CHESLEY PERMANENTLY DISBARRED FOR FEE SCHEME IN $200 MILLION DOLLAR FEN-PHEN SETTLEMENT

FOUR HUNDRED (400) PLAINTIFFS GOT $46 MILLION DOLLARS.

ONE (1) ATTORNEY, STANLEY CHESLEY GOT PAID $20 MILLION DOLLARS FOR HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS ONLY...HE DID NOT EVEN APPEAR AT TRIAL. HE LOST HIS LICENSE TO PRACTICE LAW BUT DID NOT HAVE TO REPAY THE MONEY.

THE PATIENTS WERE PAWNS IN THIS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT WHERE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WERE PAID IN CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENTS AND EVEN THE JUDGE COLLUDED WITH THE ATTORNEYS.

HOW DO PATIENTS KNOW THEY ARE RECEIVING THEIR FAIR SHARE OF SETTLEMENTS IN CLASS ACTIONS AND MASS TORTS?  ANSWER: THEY DON'T.

JUST LIKE HEALTHCARE, PATIENTS WHO BECOME PLAINTIFFS ARE IN THE DARK WITH LITTLE OR NO INFLUENCE OVER A MAJOR LIFE ALTERING EVENT.

WE CAN ONLY HOPE THERE ARE NOT ANY "STANLEY CHESLEYS" IN THE ONGOING MESH LAWSUITS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY!


http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-22/stanley-chesley-titan-of-the-plaintiffs-bar-crashes-and-burns
Bloomberg Business Week 03/22/2013 by Paul Barrett, assistant managing editor and senior writer.  

"STANLEY CHESLEY, TITAN OF THE PLAINTIFF'S BAR, CRASHES AND BURNS" 

The big-time plaintiffs’ bar justifies its multimillion-dollar fees by claiming to vindicate the “little guy.” Justice ain’t free, according to free-wheeling trial lawyers, and taking on (alleged) corporate villains requires heavy pecuniary incentives.

Sadly, the titans of this elite segment of the bar have a tendency to flame out in spectacular bursts of greed and deceit, undercutting their claims of righteous dedication. The latest example is famed class-action attorney Stanley Chesley of Cincinnati, for decades one of the leading scourges of industries that range from pharmaceuticals, to chemicals, to firearms.

The Kentucky Supreme Court on March 21 upheld Chesley’s disbarment in that state for “unreasonable” fees received in the settlement of a class action originally filed in 1999 against Wyeth, now part of Pfizer. The allegation stemmed from $20 million in fees Chesley received for his involvement in an action concerning the diet drug known as fen-phen (fenfluramine/phentermine), which was shown to cause harmful side effects. The case was settled in 2001 for $200 million.

Under Ohio’s Rules of Professional Responsibility for lawyers, the disbarment in Kentucky may provide grounds for Chesley to get drummed out of the legal trade in his home state, as well.

Here’s a helpful description of Chesley’s troubles from Bloomberg News:

“In 2009, two Kentucky lawyers involved in the case were sentenced to 20 years and 25 years in prison for stealing from the [diet drug] settlement fund. The lawyers had contracts entitling them to fees of as much as one-third of the $200 million awarded to a statewide group of Kentucky citizens who said they were harmed by diet drug. The lawyers tried to keep more than twice that amount, prosecutors said.


In its 38-page decision, the Kentucky Supreme Court noted that Chesley didn’t meet directly with any of the clients to effectuate the settlement, and it wasn’t shown that he had specific knowledge of the deception practiced on each client to secure the signed release.

The court did find that his “$20,497,121.87 share of the fee was unreasonable, especially in light of his professed ignorance and lack of responsibility for any aspect of the litigation except showing up at the mediation and going through the motions of announcing the agreement.”


BE SURE TO READ THE WHOLE STORY AT BLOOMBERG...IT'S WAY TOO JUICY TO MISS!

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE AS A PATIENT, A PATIENT ADVOCATE AND A LEGAL CONSULTANT, THIS IS A MESS CREATED BY BAD LAWS, BAD DRUGS AND DEVICES AND GREED. IT IS A SYSTEMIC ISSUE CREATED BY THE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM WHICH DOES NOT PROTECT PATIENTS.

MY ADVICE: STAY WELL, STAY OUT OF THE HOSPITAL AND DON'T TAKE DRUGS UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. YOU MAY BE UNKNOWINGLY HARMING YOURSELF!

BEST, BLESSINGS, LANA

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