Essay about A Civil Action - 795 Words

There are few things in life that could be worse than loosing you child to such a horrible disease as leukemia. One can only imagine having such a tragedy repeat itself throughout you community time after time. To compound such tragedies, imagine being poisoned yourself and having to fight some of the largest local corporations to prove the truth and get it stopped. This is the community setting for Jonathan Harrs true-to-life legal thriller A Civil Action. The book was an award winner for Best Seller in 1995 and was named the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award. The setting of the book is in the New England state of Woburn, Massachusetts. This is a sleepy little community that is overcast by local factories. The factories†¦show more content†¦The W.R. Grace Company, Riley Eannery, and Unifirst Corporation were prominent factories in Wobourn. Jan speculated they were to have illegally dumped a dangerous carcinogen known as TCE into the ground, sewer, and water systems of the Woborn community. These poisons were thought by Jan, and the community, to have polluted two water wells that acted as a water supply for the community. Many of the people who worked at the factories experienced many medical problems such as cancer and died at young ages. Community members experienced numerous medial problems such as flu-like symptoms, memory loss, cancers, leukemia, burning eyes, and skin, and death. The water over the years was said to have gone from natural, to smelling, to dark and dangerous. Though Jan put off the Woburn case for a long time, he took it thinking that a public interest firm would brunt the cost and workload. As it turned out, he and his associates had to take on the companies, and their prominent attorneys, single handedly. Even the EPA couldnt conclude a connection in the poisoning and refused to help an attorney collect a settlement fee. As Jan became obsessive with the Woborn case, a reader is able to tag along on a host of legal battles put forth by the opposing counsel. Rarely used legal rules, such as Rule 11, were put forth to destroy Jan and the case itself. This is further complicated by the trial judge, JudgeShow MoreRelatedA Civil Action - Movie2268 Words   |  10 PagesA Civil Action The movie A Civil Action is focused on describing and explaining what really goes on in a court of law. The case the movie deals with is a small firm going after a national corporation in order to get them to apologize for what they did to the city’s water. It is believed that the company would dump harmful waste such as trichloroethylene into the back of their site where the company was located into a small running river. However, the river was connected to the city’s water wellsRead MoreEssay on Civil Action1768 Words   |  8 PagesCivil Action   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The legal system is an essential element in the successful operation of this country. It is a system that is utilized every day, by every type of person, from the average blue-collar worker to the average Wall Street broker. There is a multitude of ways that the legal system is put to use. One such way is the class action lawsuit. A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr, uses the account of a single case, Anne Anderson, et al., v. W.R. Grace Co., et al, to illustrate the power andRead MoreA Civil Action by Jonathan Harr528 Words   |  3 PagesA Civil Action by Jonathan Harr A Civil Action is based upon a true story that Jonathan Harr, a former staff writer of New England Monthly describes a case that in the legal system that is fascinating and compelling. The story of a impracticable quest by an idealistic young personal-Injury lawyer, whose aim was to prove that two conglomerates, Beatrice Foods and W.R Grace, allegedly polluted the water in Woburn ,Mass. a Boston suburb, with carcinogens. Jan had hoped that a victory would send aRead MoreA Civil Action Term Paper2158 Words   |  9 PagesA Civil Action Paper In class, we have learned many important topics in the legal, ethical, and regulatory environment of business. However in the classroom setting, we have examined each of these topics individually. Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action allows us to see how the topics learned relate to one another in the context of a real world setting. His book provides an engaging read about the legal practice action while connecting the topics of the relationship between law, business, and ethics;Read MoreContent Of Class Instruction On The Movie A Civil Action 1072 Words   |  5 PagesParagraph 1 - Content of class instruction. Information covered during the class. Our journal for the third week of class was to watch the movie A Civil Action, since we would not be in class. This movie was interesting because Jan Schlichtmann who was originally a greedy personal injury lawyer decides to take on case due to the potentially large settlement involved. Unfortunately, the case eventually bankrupted him and his staff. At the end of the movie, the viewer is able to see that he did notRead MoreTrial Procedure in the Movie A Civil Action Essay780 Words   |  4 PagesIn the film, A Civil Action, Trial Procedure was shown throughout the entire movie. There are many steps that need to be completed before a verdict and judgment can be reached. These steps are the pleadings, methods of discovery, pretrial hearings, jury selection, opening statements, introduction of evidence, cross examinations, closing arguments, instructions to the jury, and the verdict and judgment. The case in this movie was actually called Anderson v. Cryovac. The plaintiffs are the An dersonRead MoreA Civil Action By Jonathan Harr And On A True Story1791 Words   |  8 PagesThe odds of a plaintiff winning in civil court are two to one against. Most people do not even try, they settle. Out of the approximate 780,000 cases filed each year, only 12,000 or 1.5%, ever reach a verdict. These facts are some that are told in the movie A Civil Action. A Civil Action is based on the book by Jonathan Harr and on a true story. This movie, which was filmed in 1998, is about a water contamination case that happened in Massachusetts. The case is known as Anderson v. Cryovac. JohnRead MoreAnalysis of Jonathan Harr ´s A Civil Action Essay1157 Words   |  5 PagesJonathan Harr wrote a compelling novel, called A Civil Action, on the actual events of a thrilling court case involving two major corporations and the families who were affected greatly. In Woburn, Massachusetts there were twenty-eight children who contracted acute lymphocytic leukemia between the years of 1964 and 1986. The explanation for the contraction of the disease and even the death of some of the children was discovered in the water; two municipal wells near the town were found to be contaminatedRead MoreScenario Involving Civil Liability and Civil Action986 Words   |  4 PagesScenario Involving Civil Liability and Civil Action Jacquelyne Anderson Professor Phillip Edwards CJ499-01 September 14, 2014 In this scenario project I will identify four alleged crimes and one criminal civil action. In addition, I will apply principles involving criminal law relevant to the criminal justice practice, and I will demonstrate my understanding of civil liabilities relative to criminal justice agencies, and practitioners. Furthermore, I will identify case laws relevant toRead MoreThe Love Canal Crisis : An Epidemic1709 Words   |  7 PagesJames Daniel Mr. Peters Honors Environmental Science 11 November 2016 A Civil Action The Love Canal crisis is an epidemic that will shake the roots of this country for centuries. From 1942 to 1953 a landfill in Niagara Falls area known as the Love Canal; which is named after 18th-century famous entrepreneur William T. Love who had an aspiration to connect two levels of the Niagara River, which evidentially separated by Niagara Falls. His plan sought to integrate a canal that would utilize