Police unions roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“There has been no spite…. I have not seen this as revenge-motivated.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Stanley Chesley: the sequel is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Part one: How Chesley, born in modest circumstances in Cincinnati, helped pave the way for modern mass tort law by suing dozens upon dozens of defendants — in particular, makers of furnishings and furniture — over the Beverly Hills Supper Club nightclub fire (scroll for more). Advice from Robert Gettys, the only lawyer to hold out and beat Chesley in that case: “Don’t listen to his B.S.”

Part two: “in a 2004 interview, Chesley estimated his firm had recovered nearly $7 billion for clients since he began doing mass tort litigation in the 1970s.”

Part three: he dishes out generously to both Democratic and Republican parties in Ohio, as well as to philanthropies that subsequently undergo embarrassment when the Kentucky Supreme Court finds Chesley “engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation following the initial distribution of client funds and concealed unethical handling of client funds by others.”

Part four: “Chesley’s friends call his professional demise a ‘personal tragedy.’ But his detractors call him a bully who manipulates the media to help his causes. Plenty of local lawyers dislike him. Most, however, declined to be quoted. That’s partly because, although he’s no longer practicing law, Chesley still is married to a federal judge.” Also: why Jacquelyn McMurtry, a fen-phen claimant who attended the civil trial over fee finagling in the Kentucky case, doesn’t share the opinion of settlement guru Kenneth Feinberg that Chesley was somehow the victim of others’ fraud.

“Stan Chesley: How a Single Case Dethroned the ‘King of Torts'” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

P.S. There was a flurry of national coverage last week when Cincinnati-area judge Robert Ruehlman struck down a traffic camera ordinance in the village of Elmwood Park, declaring the cameras a “scam” and “high-tech game of three-card monte.” [Cincinnati.com] Readers with long memories may recall that Judge Ruehlman appeared to favorable advantage in these columns back in 1999 when he threw out the city of Cincinnati’s abusive lawsuit against gun manufacturers, trade associations and a distributor, the first of the municipal gun suits to reach trial on the merits.

P.P.S. Why police drones aren’t the same thing privacy-wise as police helicopters [ACLU via HuffPo via Amy Alkon](& Bainbridge)

The drone debate and the traffic-camera debate is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Teacher claims discrimination over her fear of kids” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Chesley noted that Hamilton County [= Cincinnati] Prosecutor Joe Deters, who has worked for Chesley as a private attorney for four years, continues to work at the firm.

Deters also works as a private attorney for the new firm created by Chesley’s former lawyers. Deters, a leader in Hamilton County’s Republican Party, praises Chesley, who has helped raise millions for Democrats…

Three lawyers depart embattled Chesley’s firm is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 14 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Cincinnati Bengals to pay $250,000 in suit over season tickets is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Football-keeping neighbor sues parents is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system