Lawyers Point Fingers Re $64 Million Fee Shortfall
Oops. Prominent Cincinnati lawyer Stan Chesley says he wasn’t the “chief architect” of an attorney scheme to defraud plaintiffs in diet drug litigation of $64 million, but simply unaware that “a lawyer in his office drafted a letter that allegedly misled clients about the disposal of $20 million,” reports the Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal.
Chesley has asked a judge to strike a pleading that claims he had a leading role in the alleged scheme by fen-phen plaintiff counsel to defraud clients of $64 million in excessive legal fees. He also asked for sanctions against Angela Ford, the lawyer who filed it in Boone County Court.
Chesley had no direct contact with clients, his counsel contends in a motion, and was hired by three Lexington, Ky. attorneys only to negotiate a settlement on behalf of 440 clients injured by fen-phen. A judge has found that these three Lexington lawyers did defraud the the plaintiffs.
