Injury Lawyer's Fees May Get Him Disbarred

In 1977, a fire burned through a 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 than 1000 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 stop with the nightclub case.  Incredibily, he was involved in several other big hits: breast implant 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 actions with 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 the Boone 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 professionals in the underlying product liability case.

Sad that this is a tale that is oft re-told in our time.

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info@clarkstonlegal.com

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Posted in: Fen-Phen,Kentucky,Kentucky Supreme Court,Ohio,personal injury lawyer,plaintiff lawyer,product liability,Stanley Chesley

What's In A Name? Detroit Injury Lawyer Sues His Own Firm

Detroit personal injury lawyer Lawrence Charfoos has sued his former law firm, Charfoos & Christensen PC, in the Oakland County Circuit Court.

In his complaint against the firm he helped build, Charfoos seeks injunctive relief to prevent the continued use of his well-known name, as well as money damages for fees he claims are owed.  The case was filed on Friday and assigned to Judge Wendy Potts.

Since 1991, the personal injury firm has owned and occupied the historic Hecker-Smiley Mansion on Woodward Avenue, pictured above.  The law firm has represented personal injury clients since 1929, when Charfoos' father hung a shingle in Detroit.

In the 1970s, Charfoos, having followed his father's footsteps, gained prominence for winning a series of multi-million dollar jury verdicts in product liability and medical malpractice lawsuits.  According to pleadings filed in the case, Charfoos teamed-up in the late 1970s with his now-former partners, David Christensen, and Dennis Archer.  When Archer left the firm to accept an appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1986, the official name became Charfoos & Christensen, PC.

Under this name, one of the firm's partners, J. Douglas Peters, co-authored a widely-used practice manual on birth trauma cases featured in monthly full-page advertisements in the Michigan Bar Journal over the past several decades.  Christensen's name is also associated with the book, along with the name of the firm.

Last fall, Charfoos announced to his partners that he was leaving the firm that he helped build in his own name. Crain's Detroit Business reported in October 2009 that the firm's name would not change despite their founder's sudden departure.

Apparently, the Detroit personal injury lawyer has now teamed-up with former Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge William Giovan and immigration attorney Robert Birach.  The problem arises now that the group of well-seasoned attorneys has announced the name of their new firm:  Charfoos, Giovan & Birach LLP.  Thus for the time being, two Detroit-area law firms bear Charfoos' good name; hence his lawsuit.

In addition to Charfoos' litigation, there are also ethical considerations for the Christensen firm to consider.  The name of the firm cannot mislead the public.  With two law firms bearing the Charfoos name, the public is understandably confused, if not misled.  Simply click on the links in this blog post to see for yourself.

What's in a name?  Stay tuned to find out how valuable a well-known name can be...

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Posted in: Crain's Detroit Business,David Christensen,Dennis Archer,Lawrence Charfoos,Michigan Bar Journal,Michigan Supreme Court,personal injury lawyer,Robert Birach,Wendy Potts,William Giovan