CINCINNATI — Stanley Chesley, the class-action litigation pioneer who took on cases of cigarette companies and makers of defective breast implants until his legal career ended amid accusations of unethical behavior, has died at age 89.
Chesley died Sunday at a long-term care facility in Cincinnati, according to his son, Richard Chesley. The cause of death was not mentioned.
Chesley rose to prominence after winning $50 million for victims of a 1975 electrical fire at a Beverly Hills supper club in Kentucky that killed 165 people. Aside from prosecuting the nightclub, he also took on the manufacture of aluminum electrical wiring, an unprecedented approach at the time.
He was among the country’s most powerful lawyers, helped reach a $206 billion national tobacco settlement in 1998, and also won settlements against the Catholic Church over alleged sexual abuse.
Chesley, who resided in Cincinnati, earned the nickname “Master of Disaster” because of his aggressive style and success in plane crashes, fires and other tragedies.
Over the course of his five-decade career, he represented families of victims of the 1988 terrorist attack on a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland; Workers at a Cold War nuclear plant; And women who received silicone breast implants from Dow Corning.
“The bigger it gets, the harder it falls,” Chesley said in a 2010 interview with the University of Cincinnati Magazine. “I don’t operate from a position of fear.”
Chesley was also a prominent philanthropist and activist in civic causes, education, and Jewish organizations. He has been a prolific fundraiser for politicians including Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
His career began to unravel during Kentucky ethics investigations into the 2001 settlement of a $200 million lawsuit involving the makers of the Fen-Phen diet pill combination.
The Kentucky Supreme Court in March 2013 removed him from the list, concluding that Chesley crossed an ethical line in the case. A judge later ordered Chesley to pay $42 million to settle allegations that he overcharged — $20 million instead of the requested $14 million.
Chesley was never criminally charged and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton, during the 2013 recall decision: “Although his good reputation and generous services aggravated the tragedy of his downfall, they cannot atone for the serious misconduct he committed in connection with this matter.”
Chesley avoided potential disbarment in his home state by retiring. He was sworn in before his wife, U.S. District Judge Susan J. Delot, declaring that he had ended his law practice.
“The idea that Stan Chesley had a distinguished legal career, and that it should end this way, I find appalling,” said Kenneth Feinberg, a Washington, D.C., attorney and friend. “It’s a personal tragedy.”
The son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Chesley grew up in Cincinnati. He worked as a shoe salesman to attend law school, and began his practice in 1960. He slowly built his practice before assembling a group of plaintiffs to sue manufacturers of aluminum wire and other products involved in the aftermath of the Supper Club fire.
Years later, Chesley said he looks back with satisfaction on how he helped victims and their families in a case that also led to safety reforms.
“Because of Beverly Hills, we have safer standards,” Chesley said in 2010. “I feel good about that.”
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Retired Associated Press journalist Dan Sewell was the lead author of this obituary.