Riley, the duplicitous, porcine tannery owner and a host of others. 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. Much of the legal infighting can cause the eyes to glaze. 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.

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. In America, when somebody does you wrong, you take 'em to court. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. With an unstoppable narrative power reminiscent of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, A Civil Action is an unforgettable reading experience that will leave the reader both shocked and enlightened.Ī Civil Action was made into a movie starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall.

Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything, including his sanity. Yet it is also the story of how one man can ultimately make a difference. This true story of an epic courtroom showdown, where two of the nation's largest corporations were accused of causing the deaths of children from water contamination, was a #1 national bestseller and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.ĭescribed as “a page-turner filled with greed, duplicity, heartache, and bare-knuckle legal brinksmanship by The New York Times, A Civil Action is the searing, compelling tale of a legal system gone awry-one in which greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice.

Jonathan harr a civil action 1995