A Civil Action

“A Civil Action” Paper

By Sara Q

BU 213 DA 1

Professor Fleisher

Sara Q

19 October 2014

Professor Fleisher

BU 213 DA 1

The film a civil action, based on a true story, involves a case between the families of children who died from leukemia against the corporations of Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace and Company in Woburn, Massachusetts. The families were suing for wrongful death of their children due to negligence of both these companies in contaminating the water in their area. Jan Schlichtmann is a personal injuries attorney that represents the plaintiff during the case. The plaintiff, Anne Anderson, files a complaint and is representing herself as well as the other families in her neighborhood who lost their children for the same reason. The defendants in this case would be Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace and Company. Mr. Facher is the attorney representing Beatrice Foods and Mr. Cheeseman is the attorney representing W.R. Grace. The plaintiff, Anne Anderson, states in the beginning of the movie that the other families as well as she were not seeking compensation for their loss. They reason she filed the lawsuit was because she wanted to know who was responsible for the death of her child and the other children. Of course it’s plain to see that all parents believed it was from the contamination of the water because of other companies dumping their toxic waste in there. Anne wanted to have the water cleaned up and have those who contaminated it punished. Jan explained to Anderson that his firm only makes money if they win the case and that they need proof in order to win. Jan was close to turning the case down until he was pulled over leaving the area where he visited Anderson and noticed for himself that both these companies had two facilities near the stream which the parents believed to be contaminated. He immediately believed that the parents could be right and that by winning this case he could not only give these families closure,...