Ed Chapin is an accomplished trial lawyer. During his illustrious legal career, he has tried upwards of 100 cases in federal and state courts.
Recent noteworthy trials in which Ed was the lead counsel include the GirlsDoPorn.com civil lawsuit, where 22 female plaintiffs across the U.S. alleged the website’s owners, operators and associated businesses exploited them after answering modeling advertisements on Craigslist. Ed and his team obtained a $20 million plus award after a 99-day bench trial in California Superior Court. The Court also granted plaintiffs all rights to their videos and issued an injunction that the defendants are prohibited from distributing the likenesses, images or videos of the plaintiffs. Midway through the trial, three individuals involved in the GirlsDoPorn operation were indicted by a federal grand jury for sex trafficking and other charges. All three individuals are in custody. As a result of this matter, Ed’s former firm received the National Law Journal’s 2021 award for best Human Rights Firm in the United States.
In 2018, Ed obtained a $5.4 million jury verdict and award of attorney fees for Beth Burns, the winning women’s basketball coach in San Diego State University’s history. Ed’s litigation acumen in this public jury trial that focused on SDSU’s Title IX violations highlights how even the most powerful institutions can be made to take responsibility for the damage they cause to individual’s careers and overall well-being.
Previously, Ed was lead counsel for the chemical manufacturer involved in the noteworthy toxic tort litigation featured in the Academy Award-winning movie The Erin Brockovich Story. This case involved over 4,000 plaintiffs who claimed personal injury and wrongful death attributed to exposure to toxins at three sites in southern and central California.
