Interior of the Office of Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird LLP
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Burt A. (Chuck) Stinson

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Areas Of Practice

  • Appellate & Constitutional Law
  • Complex Commercial & Business Litigation
  • Class Action
  • Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution
Chuck's practice focuses on appellate litigation, class and derivative actions, and complex commercial matters in courts across the nation. He has represented both publicly and privately held companies, directors, officers, and shareholders both at the trial and appellate levels in a variety of matters. These include cost-of-insurance-increase and failure-to-decrease class actions, data-breach class actions, trade secret and business tort litigation, restrictive covenant suits, and shareholder derivative actions. Chuck has practiced in courts all over the country, including multiple U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Kentucky Supreme Court, and the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Before entering legal practice, Chuck served in the United States Air Force. He also spent four years working as a linguist for the FBI, where he was involved in a variety of criminal, counterintelligence, and cybersecurity investigations. Prior to joining the firm, Chuck served as a law clerk for the Honorable John K. Bush of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Education

  • University of Louisville School of Law, Louisville, Kentucky
    • J.D.
    • Honors: summa cum laude
  • Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California
    • A.A.
    • Honors: summa cum laude
    • Major: Chinese-Mandarin
  • Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
    • B.A.
    • Honors: cum laude
    • Major: English

Bar Admissions

  • Kentucky
  • Indiana
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court District of Colorado
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky
  • U.S. District Court Western District of Kentucky
  • U.S. District Court Western District of Washington

Clerkship

  • Law Clerk, Hon. John K. Bush, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Representative Matters

  • Won affirmance of an order awarding client a $1.3 million judgment based on the filed-rate doctrine. Granite State Ins. Co. v. Star Mine Servs., Inc., 29 F.4th 317, 320 (6th Cir. 2022).
  • Successfully argued for dismissal of a creditor’s appeal of a bankruptcy court order regarding debtor’s retention of counsel. In re Curare Lab. LLC, Case No. 22-8015 (6th Cir. BAP Oct. 14, 2023).
  • Won affirmance of an order dismissing claims by a life settlement company against a life insurer for breach of contract. GWG DLP Funding V, LLC v. PHL Variable Ins. Co., 54 F.4th 1029, 1032 (8th Cir. 2022).
  • Successfully obtained dismissal of business tort and breach-of-contract claims against an annuity company. Montoya v. Voya Ins. & Annuity Co., 2021 WL 6424471 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 10, 2021), report and recommendation adopted, 2022 WL 102032 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 11, 2022).
  • Intervened on behalf of press organizations to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling that declared newspaper exception to the Open Records Act unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
  • Represented life insurance company in a nationwide class action challenging an increase in cost-of-insurance rates.
  • Represented third-party administrator of healthcare records in nationwide data breach class action.