Jan stubbornly declines settlement offers, gradually coming to believe the case is about more than just money. The lawyers for Beatrice and Grace are not easy to intimidate, a judge makes a key ruling against the plaintiffs, and soon Jan and his partners find themselves in a position where their professional and financial survival has been staked on the outcome of the case. However, the case develops a life of its own and takes over the lives of Jan and his firm. Grace and Company-thinking the case could possibly earn him millions of dollars and boost his firm's reputation.īringing a class action lawsuit in federal court, Jan represents families who demand an apology and a clean up of contaminated areas. Jan decides to go forward against two giant corporations that own the tanneries- Beatrice Foods and W. After originally rejecting a seemingly unprofitable case, Jan finds a major environmental issue involving groundwater contamination that has great legal potential and realizes the local tanneries could be responsible for several deadly cases of leukemia. Cocky Boston attorney Jan Schlichtmann and his small firm of personal injury lawyers are asked by Woburn resident Anne Anderson to take legal action against those responsible. Duvall was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.Įnvironmental toxicants in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts contaminate the area's water supply and become linked to a number of deaths of local children. 431 (denial of defendants' motion to dismiss). The first reported decision in the case is at 96 F.R.D.

The case involved is Anne Anderson, et al., v.

A lawsuit was filed over industrial operations that appeared to have caused fatal cases of leukemia and cancer, as well as a wide variety of other health problems, among the citizens of the city. The film and court case revolve around the issue of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent, and its contamination of a local aquifer. Macy, Kathleen Quinlan, and Tony Shalhoub, it tells the true story of a court case about environmental pollution that took place in Woburn, Massachusetts in the 1980s.

Starring John Travolta, Robert Duvall, James Gandolfini, Dan Hedaya, John Lithgow, William H. A Civil Action is a 1998 American legal drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian, based on the 1995 book of the same name by Jonathan Harr.

A civil action by jonathan harr