A
Civil Action
DOWN &
DIRTY:
Drama: A personal injury lawyer
risks his career representing the
families of several children who
died as a result of two large and
powerful corporations negligent
actions.
NITTY GRITTY:
Jan Schlichtmann (JOHN TRAVOLTA)
is a highly successful personal
injury lawyer. The firm he runs
with his partners, Kevin Conway
(TONY SHALHOUB) and Bill Crowley
(ZELJKO IVANEK), and their
accountant, James Gordon (WILLIAM
H. MACY), may be small, but it's
highly profitable.
They get a call from Anne
Anderson (KATHLEEN QUINLAN), a
Woburn, Massachusetts mother
whose son died of leukemia in the
early 80's. She claims that her
son's death, and those of other
local kids were caused by nearby
factories dumping toxins into the
town's water.
The law firm won't take the case
because they don't see any
defendants with deep pockets that
would make it financially worth
while.
Jan travels to Woburn to inform
Anderson of their decision. By
coincidence Jan is stopped by a
cop for speeding on the bridge
over the polluted river. As the
officer writes the speeding
ticket Jan sees the factories
next to the river.
He decides to check them out. He
discovers that one of them is a
subsidiary of Beatrice Foods, a
wealthy corporation. He returns
and convinces his partners to
take the case.
The problem is that proving
negligence on the part of
Beatrice and another company,
W.R. Grace, will be expensive.
Jan hires many specialists to
start digging for facts.
After getting the testimony of a
friendly witness, Al Love (JAMES
GANDOLFINI), the firm finally
gets the case to trial before
Judge Walter J. Skinner (JOHN
LITHGOW).
Through the legal wrangling of
Beatrice attorney Facher (ROBERT
DUVALL), Beatrice is removed from
the lawsuit.
Jan and his partners spend all
their money and even mortgage
their homes to pay for the case.
THE ENDING:
Jan realizes they will not win
the case and they settle with
W.R. Grace for eight million
dollars. After expenses and
attorney fees the plaintiffs are
left with around $369,000 for
each family.
As a result of the stress of the
case, Jan's law firm breaks up
and Jan is left on his own,
living in a run-down apartment
with a small cheesy law practice.
His Porsche is gone, his house is
gone, his partners/friends are
gone.
In desperation, he sends his case
files to the Environmental
Protection Agency. Several years
later, the EPA fines both
Beatrice and W. R. Grace $69
million dollars in fines.
Jan wins in the end, sort of.
WHAT EVERYONE WILL BE
TALKING ABOUT:
The fact that the movie is based
on a TRUE story and children died
as a result of the negligence of
two large corporations who had
the resources to cover up the
deeds and then defend the cover
ups.
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