A Civil Action

After watching a Civil Action, I felt it was an excellent film with much to offer.

It started with Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) and his small law firm consisting of attorneys Bill Crowley (Zeljko Ivanek) and Kevin Conway (Tony Shalhoub). Together, they find cases which will be the most profitable for them. They find a client that is so desperate for some type of lawsuit against the companies. The entire film revolves around a case of 12 dead or dying children, caused by the pollution of the water. Their main concern is to find out who is responsible for all of the heartbreaking incidents.

After discovering that two major companies that were involved, Schlichtmann immediately takes the case and spends all his time and resources gathering all the information he can. Schlictmann is up against very powerful individuals, the wily Jerome Facher of Hale & Dorr, who represents Beatrice, and William Cheeseman, of Foley, Hoag & Eliot, who represents Grace. These guys will win any battle and have excessive amount of funds in their accounts, so for them, the battle could go on forever. Schlictmann's tiny firm is hopelessly overpowered, and even worse, the case is removed to federal court and heard by Judge Walter Skinner. He has a personal relationship with Facher and despises personal injury lawyers.

Sadly, he runs his company dry of funding, and turns to getting loans, using credit cards, and buying lottery tickets. It brings them to an even deeper, darker hole that soon enough, they won’t be able to get out. Gordon soon mortgages their homes and loses everything they have. Schlichtmann has to decide whether or not fighting the case is worth it, because he already lost everything he had. Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan) had pleated for sympathy from Schlichtmann, she wanted what she had lost, to be paid back to her. He soon offered and urged the families to settle for the eight million dollars offered, because he has nothing more to offer as a lawyer or person....