There are few things in life that could be worse than loosing you child to such a horrible disease as leukemia. One can only imagine having such a tragedy repeat itself throughout you community time after time. To compound such tragedies, imagine being poisoned yourself and having to fight some of the largest local corporations to prove the truth and get it stopped. This is the community setting for Jonathan Harr's true-to-life legal thriller A Civil Action. The book was an award winner for "Best Seller" in 1995 and was named the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award. The setting of the book is in the New England state of Woburn, Massachusetts. This is a sleepy little community that is overcast by local factories. The factories have been contaminating the ground and water supplies for several years by dumping a chemical known as TCE. Though nobody would openly admit to using the chemical, dumping the chemical, or linking it to leukemia, this deadly byproduct would later prove to be the key to the emotionally and financially draining drama. Jan Schlichtmann is the main character of this true story. As a prominent attorney from Boston, who has an ego to match his bank account, he seems obsessed to find a way to consistently find bigger settlements and make a name for himself in the legal community. Though slightly inexperienced, he seems to be a natural in the courtroom, and even more so in the "game" of out-of-court-settlements. Jan owed part of his success due to the fact he surrounded himself with people who "counterbalanced" his personality. It is through their support in most of this story that he was able to negotiate through the tribulations. But through a host of events, Jan ended up spearheading the Wo... ... middle of paper ... ... impressed in the time, cost, and emotional expense that went into such a case. Because of the reluctance for government entities to get involved, as well as the lies being told, Jan was left holding the bag. It was easy to see that Jan's ego, coupled with his big spending habit, didn't help his end result. However, I can also see the most frugal plaintiff's attorney end up in bankruptcy if he or she became just as passionate about a case. Lastly, the book could frustrate the average reader who may already feel that the lawyers could complicate the process of "right versus wrong." The plot does place "common folk" against a corporate giant and allows the archrival the ability to go on the offensive against the victims. However, one must under stand that this is a harsh reality in American legal profession, especially when millions of dollars are at stake.
Criticisms of lawyers are the topic in Richard A. Wasserstrom's article "Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues." Wasserstrom broke this topic into two main areas of discussion. The first suggests that lawyers operate with essentially no regard for any negative impact of their efforts on the world at large. Analysis of the relationship that exists between the lawyer and their client was the second topic of discussion. "Here the charge is that it is the lawyer-client relationship which is morally objectionable because it is a relationship which the lawyer dominates and in which the lawyer typically, and perhaps inevitably, treats the client in both an impersonal and a paternalistic fashion."
A dangerous silence envelopes the dark, drab courtroom. It is only punctuated with the hiss of an indecisive fluorescent lamp that seems to flirt with the idea of extinguishing itself completely. The lamp’s dim spectrum illuminates the pallid face of the plaintiff. His bespectacled eyes peer upwards from horn-rimmed glasses. Abruptly, a gruff voice pierces the quiet. It is a voice that wears impressive yet insipid suits. It is a voice that drinks black coffee and smokes generic cigarettes. When it speaks, it asks:
The movie, A Civil Action, relates to a true story of two corporation’s improper disposal of trichloroethylene and its consequences on a small town in Massachusetts. High incidences of leukemia arise and the affected families seek support to address the responsible parties by employing small firm, personal injury attorney, Jan Schlichtmann. Upon taking the case, he is greeted with unanswered questions and claims of improper hazardous waste disposal by local tanneries and corporations. The clients make clear that they are simply seeking ownership of those who caused the incidents and apologies for the committed actions that resulted in the deaths of their loved ones.
Thirdly, the setting of the story is set in Salinas, California. Ironically, the author was born in Salinas. It is the time of the Great Depression and middle-class has been hit hard. The story begins in Weed, a California mining town.
In Dan McCall’s essay, “From the Reliable Narrator,” McCall stresses that the lawyer/narrator should be viewed as a reliable and trustworthy source. His perspective on the lawyer a “distinct minority”, as he feels very few view the lawyer in that way. Many critics see the lawyer as the opposite of McCall, and inforce that the lawyer is unreliable and blameworthy. That he is a representation of ‘consumer capitalism” and the he ‘is simply incapable of recognizing-the political and economic forces that have made him what he is” (McCall, 272). McCall uses other critic’s perspectives in order to reflect light on his own. He explains that the lawyer is someone he trusts, when he first read it at the age of eighteen and even now, because the lawyer
Civil Liability has more than one source. There are two sources of liabilities, civil wrong and unjust enrichment. But most importantly civil liability is to be responsible for debts or wrongdoing against another private party (http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/defenses-to-civil-liability.html). A Civil Wrong could arise from three different acts. It could arise from personal acts, acts of another, and from things. But, my main focus is personal acts. All these acts are considered as a civil wrong which is an action with a tort, an act against another person or their property, and, a breach of the terms of a contract (http://thelawdictionary.org/civil-wrong/). In order to prove that a person is liable for that certain act we should analyze the civil wrong elements which are , wrong, damage, and causation. A The second source of liability is unjust enrichment which is benefiting from the action or property of another without legal justification (http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/U/UnjustEnrichment.aspx).Unjust Enrichment could arise from a payment not due and a voluntary agency. Unjust Enrichment includes three elements which are loss, benefit, and no legal justification. Both liabilities have different understandings and have different aspects in viewing a case.
Walter K. Olson an author, and blogger who writes predominantly about legal subjects wrote "The Litigation Explosion” which is connected to how lawsuits in America started to become seen as a new fashion or a new trend. Olson stated that “people tend to fight harder when inflamed by dreams of riches or fears of ruin” (224). Litigation has increased and for decades the United States has commemorated an increase of the litigious, but because of an experiment the litigious culture became more extreme during the 1960s and 1970s. As the climate in law school attends increased, thus shaped the litigious culture in America as law schools admired and supported litigation. Accordingly, “The Litigation Explosion” stated that America's litigious culture was starting to become a disaster as if it's another “Big Bang.” The increase of litigation in the United States has many advantages and disadvantages and the reasons for the increase may be harmful or not to the American society.
town are treated very poorly. In the book there is a trial when the black man, Tom Robinson, is accused of raping
This would be a good book for a senior law class to read and relate their ideas
Bagley, C. E. (2008). Winning Legally: The Value of Legal Astuteness. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 378-390.
One of the main symbols of the story is the setting. It takes place in a normal small town on a nice summer day. "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green." (Jackson 347).This tricks the reader into a disturbingly unaware state,
The King of Torts is a legal novel written by American author John Grisham. In this story Grisham exposes us to a classic story that confirms the old cliche – “What goes around, comes around”, or in other words: a person's actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person.
Who is the lawyer you may ask? What kind of person is the lawyer throughout the story? The lawyer doesn’t mention anything about himself except the fact of his job and age. He doesn’t even give his name nor the name of anyone in the story. Through the words that he speaks, the lawyer is a person who like to have structure. The enactment of dealing with people on a personal base is to much of a confrontation for lawyer. Through the ordeal of his interaction with each of his scriveners we learn that the lawyer plays it safe.
A Civil Action The movie A Civil Action brings up an interesting idea that many people in the public don't see or hear about very often. The idea that the big corporations often don't take into account the safety of the people that work for them or the people that live around the factories. These big corporations are run entirely by money and the idea of what things will cost and how much money they can possibly make. Too many times money is more important than the lives of human beings and the people that run these places only see in dollars and cents. The moral issues that this dilemma brings up are immense. This has been happening for centuries since the industrial revolution. Workers were subjected too harsh conditions and unsafe factories so that more goods could be produced. They had children as young as seven and eight years old working 15 hour days. In our modern times, toxic waste now plays a big part in the safety of people. The waste that these companies produce and dump under our noses don't seem to bother them in the least. The way microeconomics effects this must be fully explored to realize the way the corporate world thinks and acts. The goal of any corporation is to make the maximum profit that they can providing a good or service to the community while doing it as inexpensively as possible to them. Too many times producing these goods, toxic by-products are also produced.
...the unlawful acts described in the novel. It also provides readers the sad truth that every society has corruption no matter how pure it seems. The absurdity of the novel’s plot may make the novel boring or not as enjoyable. However, The Trial provides an uncensored and accurate depiction of history’s societies and should be considered a classic.