A Civil Action (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The lawyer Jan Schlichtmann was awakened by the telephone at eight-thirty on a Saturday morning in mid-July..." (more)
Key Phrases: hotel fire case, tannery property, tannery sludge, Civil Action, Judge Skinner, Uncle Pete (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In America, when somebody does you wrong, you take 'em to court. W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods had been dumping a cancer-causing industrial solvent into the water table of Woburn, Massachusetts, for years; in 1981, the families of eight leukemia victims sued. However, A Civil Action demonstrates powerfully that--even with the families' hotshot lawyers and the evidence on their side--justice is elusive, particularly when it involves malfeasance by megacorporations. Much of the legal infighting can cause the eyes to glaze. But the story is saved by great characters: the flawed, flamboyant Jan Schlichtmann and his group of bulldogs for the prosecution; Jerome Facher, the enigmatic lawyer for Beatrice, who proves to be more than a match; John J. Riley, the duplicitous, porcine tannery owner; and a host of others. It's impossible not to feel the drama of this methodical book, impossible not to grieve for the parents who lost children, and impossible not to share Schlichtmann's desperation as he runs out of money. A Civil Action reads like one long advertisement for a few well-placed Molotov cocktails. (But that wouldn't make for a very long book, now would it?)

From Publishers Weekly

This tale of a somewhat quixotic quest by an idealistic young lawyer concerns his efforts to secure damages from two corporate giants, Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace, for allegedly polluting the water in Woburn, Mass., a Boston suburb, with carcinogens. Jan Schlichtmann had hoped that a victory would send a message to the boardrooms of America and felt that the cluster of leukemia victims in Woburn (the disease had claimed the lives of at least six children) guaranteed his success. But he reckoned without certain developments: first, the case went to a federal court, a less sympathetic venue for damage suits than state courts; second, the trial judge appears to have been unsympathetic to his case; third, at least one of the defense witnesses lied; four, defense attorneys evidently failed to deliver all relevant documents to Schlichtmann's team. The case against Beatrice was thrown out, and the plaintiffs accepted a settlement of $8 million from Grace. Personally bankrupt, Schlichtmann considered himself a failure. Former New England Monthly staffer Harr has told the story expertly, although more exhaustively than most readers may wish. Author tour; movie rights to Disney.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 502 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; FIRST EDITIION edition (August 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679772677
• ISBN-13: 978-0679772675
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (346 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Nonfiction > Government > Legal System
  #5 in	Books > Nonfiction > Law > Practical Guides
  #11 in	Books > Nonfiction > Law > Procedures & Litigation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collateral damage, May 8, 2002

By A Customer

Jan Schlictmann has paid a personal and professional price in this case as has Ken Grant, a former safety/environmental man for Grace Co. Since this book came out, Grant has been blackballed from employment in Massachusetts and eventually forced into bankruptcy and homelessness. Grant was orphaned and raised in state care and later became active in many volunteer organizations in Massachusetts. When this book came out he was fired and later driven from Massachusetts through circumstance and hostile forces.Perhaps Grant and Schlictmann should meet.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An attempt to bring closure to a complex case, May 12, 2000

By A Customer

In the early 1960s, NASA was looking to put a research center in Woburn that may have been perceived as competition for funding for New England military bases, like the Boston Navy Yard.The land around the area mentioned by this book was quite controversial and there were many more than 6-8 families affected by cancer in the wake of pollution of the local groundwater. It could have been stopped with the implementation of the Slichter Act, designed for public safety. This book highlights one controversial case involving 3 major companies,WR Grace the primary one along with Beatrice foods. Grace is a company that had at one time a former national security advisor (Zbignew Brezinski), CIA officer (Al Fiers) and Peter Lynch of Fidelity Investments (newspapers listed this info)...

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brief history of Massachusetts, September 20, 2000

By A Customer

Two major program were competing for federal funds when the first signs of an epidemic emerged in Woburn in the 1960s: a) NASA space center, and b) Boston Navy Yard. Living in Woburn were the chairmen of two committees:a) Mayor Gilgun of the NASA for Woburn committee and b) Carl Roessler of the Save Our Shipyard committee. Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill was a staunch supporter of both WR Grace and the Boston Navy Yard. As the push for increased space funds continued, military bases were being scaled back. After JFK was shot, the space program faltered somewhat and the military,specifically the Boston Navy Yard, flourished. Roessler was also the President of Trans-Sonic Corp, a supplier of flow measurement devices and presumably with heavy govt contracts. As local and national stressors pushed the country into a traditional guns vs butter economic model. the push seemed to be more for peace,hence space, than war. And Woburn was in the middle of this monumental battle. NASA never came,and this left a void in fresh jobs to Mass which was then filled by industrial developers who built industrial parks in the polluted areas which later provided space for businesses to come in and gave Woburn one of the lowest if not the lowest property taxes in the state. The whole area was teeming with miltary and space personnel.In addition ,the water pollution could be seen to have effects not just in Woburn but in : Winchester,Burlington, Reading, Stoneham, and perhaps even as far away as Arlington as polluted water meandered its way through a river,underground aquifers, and perhaps even leakage into newly emerging MDC water sewer trunks.Underground aquifers may have funneled polluted waters into spring fed ponds as well. Union strife among public works employees and leather union employees set the stage for scenarios we see now in the year 2000. An estimated 24+ organized crime families operated around the country and Joe Valachi and the Mass. Crime Commission were in full tilt.A small group of citizens in north Woburn led by attorney Michael Gatta filed a $100,000 suit against the city demanding an explanation for funny smelling water. Voyager and Apollo programs were well under way in the area, and wide opportunities were available as infrastructure developments as Route 128- " America's Technology Highway" was being built and the Kennedy height of power brought new opportunities to Mass. In the fight for NASA, the states of New York, New Jersey,Pennsylvania,Connecticut, Michigan all wanted NASA in their states. Woburn had almost become like Cuba in the Cuban missile crisis,both beloved and feared.