Part A:
The case that was tried in “A Civil Action” pertained to a case that was based on events that happened in Woburn, Massachusetts, (A Civil Action). The events that led up to the court case were the fact that six families filed suit against W.R. Grace & Co. due to the fact that their chemical plant that manufactured food-processing equipment had improper disposal of toxic chemicals that polluted the local ground water that flowed to the two local municipal wells, (A Civil Action). This improper disposal of these chemicals was believed to cause leukemia for several local residents, (A Civil Action).
The case debated in the movie was surrounding around negligence theory, (Ebert, R.). The reason for this is that it was debated as to whether the chemical company had a duty to protect the local citizens of Woburn when they were disposing their waste from their manufacturing plant? (Ebert, R.).
When debating negligence theory, there is a multi-prong analysis frame work that is necessary in order to recover, (Negligence). Then, if that theory is satisfied, it will be decided as the degree of negligence between gross and standard negligence, (Negligence). When considering whether the manufacturing plant was in fact negligent, there has to be an analysis framework that needs to be followed. First, it has to be established as to whether there was a duty, (Negligence). Next, it has to be established as to whether there was a breach of that duty, (Negligence). After the threshold of duty has been satisfied, it is important to ascertain whether the negligence was the but for or proximate cause of the injury incurred by the plaintiff, (Negligence).
What made the case in A Civil Action successful was that the theory of negligence was satisfied through the multi prong analysis that was deemed necessary to be satisfied to prove negligence, (Ebert, R.). The reason for this is that in rare cases it is established that companies are responsible for protecting the citizens around their manufacturing plants, (Negligence). This obligation goes beyond the norm of social responsibility, it means that the firm that has a manufacturing plant in a town has a duty to properly dispose of waste that can cause a health concern to local residents, (Negligence), Where the theory of negligence gets complicated to prove is when there is little evidence to show but for or proximate cause of the negligence causing damage to others, (Negligence). In the case of A Civil Action, there was enough evidence to establish that the firm did cause these illnesses by dumping their hazardous waste irresponsibly, (Negligence).
Part B:
The quote “The truth? I thought we were talking about a court of law. Come on, you’ve been around long enough to know that a courtroom isn’t a place to look for the truth,” will be discussed. This quote highlights a major issue within United States jurisprudence. Honestly, courtrooms are not the place to look for the truth because there is a great deal of deceit that transpires when litigating a case.
What this quote refers to is the reality of what happens when individuals with little capital are challenging a corporate giant. This theme is true because these companies tend to try to make the litigation expensive in order to make the “little man” unable to afford the case even if there is an enormous amount of injustice. This is important to note about the concept of justice and honesty in the courtrooms and overall legal system within the United States. Movies such as A Civil Action do a great deal to illuminate these issues that we face and show a story that actually turned out in a happy result for the “little man” against a corporate giant. This has also been seen in other Hollywood movies such as Erin Brokovich played by Julia Roberts. What these movies accomplish is giving the public hope that these negligence cases where people have been harmed by corporate irresponsibility will in fact be served proper justice.
Works Cited
“A Civil Action” Summary. SERC. Retrieved from: http://serc.carleton.edu/woburn/ACA_summary.html/.
Ebert, R. A Civil Action. Rogerebert.com. Retrieved from: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-civil-action-1999/.
Negligence. FindLaw. Retrieved from: http://injury.findlaw.com/accident-injury-law/negligence.html/.
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