A Civil Action essays

A Civil Action essays This book is about a hotshot lawyer name Jan Schlichtman that gets involved in a lawsuit against two companies in Woburn, Massachusetts. The lawsuit was about toxic waste that was dumped by both companies, W.C. Grace and Beatrice Foods on their property that ended up contaminating the Woburn areas water supply. Eight families claim that the death of their children were caused by trichloroethylene (TCE) in the toxic waste which caused these children to have leukemia, skin rashes, nausea, burning eyes and other ailments. The story continues on to talk about how the families and lawyers try to convince the jury by using evidence that they got from medical experts, public health specialists, geologists, civil engineers, and government agencies to win the case. In the end the financial power and stonewalling of the companies, and the partiality of the presiding judge for one of the defense lawyers resulted in a verdict that favored the defense. At the end of the case Jan Schlichtman had to file bankruptcy because of all the cost. Only when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided to launch a clean up and filed a suit against the two companies to pay a share of the cost was the only actual justice served. They said the project would last for 50 years but after they?re all done there will still be TCE left. After reading this book I came to realize that the justice system is messed up. People get favored over based on their reputation, where they went to school, the law firm they work at and etc. The lawyers that represented the two companies were from Harvard and part of a major law firm. The lawyer that represented the families was from a smaller firm and didn't go to a really good college and the judge treated them different in court. Another thing that I realized was that if you don't have specific evidence to prove your point in a case it could get dism ...