A_Civil_Action

A Civil Action A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr, describes the true story of a lawsuit filed by several families in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts against two large corporations, Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace. The book describes the trial mainly through the eyes of prosecuting attorney, Jan Schlichtmann, and his attempt to prove the two companies are responsible for polluting the drinking water of the town, which may have caused leukemia in several of the townfs children. After reading this book I was able to see how the basic court procedures of a lawsuit occur, what factors determine the outcome of a lawsuit, and a few lessons in courtroom strategy. A Civil Action follows a civil lawsuit through all the procedures of the litigation, much of which we have learned of and discussed in class. The plaintifffs complaint involves several families who claim W.R. Grace and Beatrice foods are responsible for the dumping of a chemical known as trichloroethylene, and the companiesf malfeasance is responsible for polluting the drinking water of the town, which has caused leukemia and death in the children of these families. The defendants answer by denying all the allegations, and ask for a motion case, responsible, lawsuit, civil, trial, schlichtmann, prove, dumping, children, chemicals, wr, several, schlichtmannfs, learned, grace, foods, families, corporations, beatrice, woburn, two, should, reasonable, procedures, out, motion, guilty, facts, evidence, enough, doubt, deaths, claim, cases, both