Hello again. As promised here is the movie for today. The scene where Al Love sits at her picnic table and talks with Anne Anderson happened on May 1, 1985, according to the book that the movie was based on. I like this film because it shows in part that if you think that the "justice" that comes out of our courts isn't often determined by who has the most money, you're living in dreamland. Watch this tonight and enjoy and come back tomorrow for my pick of a movie that happened on May 2.
A CIVIL ACTION
Jan Schlichtman is a high
powered, high profile personal injury attorney who’s so good most of his cases
settle before trial. One of his associates is asked to handle the case of
children who died in Woburn, Massachusetts, allegedly from contaminated water.
Jan thinks this case is a loser so he volunteers to go to Woburn and tell Anne
Anderson why he won’t take the case. On the way out of town he gets a speeding
ticket on the bridge over the river. He walks around and discovers that
subsidiaries of Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace, deep pocket companies operate in
the area. He files a lawsuit against them and
Cheeseman, the lawyer from Grace files a Rule 11 frivolous lawsuit
motion against him, that is denied by the judge. Jan starts geologic
investigations of the area and deposing the defendants. One defense witness, Al
Love says he saw dumping of toxic waste, but refuses to name names. The
plaintiffs are deposed by the defense attorneys. Jan gets a court order that
allows him to examine the defendant’s land and drill test wells on it. The
expenses of the case are soon putting a heavy strain on the firm’s finances and
Jerome Facher, attorney for Beatrice offers to settle by paying Jan’s expenses
to date, but Jan refuses. Then on May 1, 1985 Al Love visits with and talks to
Anne Anderson who lives across the street from him. [43:54 to 45:33] Al and
another witness testify that there was large scale dumping of chemicals. A
settlement conference is unsuccessful and the trial starts. There is months of
presentation of boring scientific testimony showing how the chemicals could
have gotten into the drinking water as Jan’s firm slowly goes bankrupt. At the end of this testimony the judge asks
the jury to find if contamination was caused by the defendants. While the jury
is deliberating Facher offers Jan $20 million to settle with Beatrice, which
Jan refuses. The jury finds no
contamination was caused by Beatrice and they are dismissed from the case. Although the case continues against W.R.
Grace, they are finally forced to settle the case for $8 million, which barely
pays their expenses and gives each family only $375,000. Jan’s firm dissolves.
Later Al Love reveals that he was paid to haul off illegally dumped chemicals
from the site. Jan ships all his documents to the EPA which indicts Beatrice on
criminal charges and makes Grace and Beatrice pay for a cleanup. Jan ends up
filing bankruptcy, but later starts practicing environmental law.
A interesting courtroom
procedural on one of the pioneering private environmental law suits. Manages to
keep the storyline moving so it doesn’t become a snoozer. Has some touches of
self-deprecating humor that keep it fresh. Travolta’s slightly sarcastically
toned narration makes this film.
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr (Random House, New
York, 1995) at page 168 gives this date for their meeting
Director = Steven Zaillian
Producer = Scott Rudin, Steven
Zaillian, David Wisnievitz, Robert Redford, Rachel
Pfeffer, David McGiffert and Henry J. Golas
Starring =
John Travolta as Jan Schlichtmann
Tony Shalhoub as Kevin Conway
William H. Macy as James Gordon
Zeljko Ivanek as Bill Crowley
Kathleen Quinlan as Anne Anderson
Mary Mara as Kathy Boyer
Robert Duvall as Jerome Facher
Bruce Norris as William Cheeseman
Peter Jacobson as Neil Jacobs
Sydney Pollack as Al Eustis
John Lithgow as Judge Walter J.
Skinner
Dan Hedaya as John Riley
James Gandolfini as Al Love
Stephen Fry as Dr. George Pinder
Screenplay = Steven Zaillian
Awards = The film was nominated
for the Best Supporting Actor (Duvall) and Best Cinematography Oscars.
Released = December 25, 1998
Runtime = 1 hour 55 minutes
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