"A Civil Action"

Book Review # 25836

English > Analysis
Law > Civil
Literature > American

"A Civil Action"

A summary of the book "A Civil Action" by Jonathan Harr.

1,739 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

The book, "A Civil Action", written by Jonathan Harr, is a legal drama based on a true personal injury case in Massachusetts. The paper discusses Harr's accuracy of the events in the actual case. It shows that the case that Harr writes about was long and arduous for both sides; however, Harr did an excellent job of chronicling the complete process. This paper provides a summary of "A Civil Action" and discusses the cost of litigation in today's legal environment.

From the Paper:

"Another method to reduce the cost of litigation is, as a plaintiff, to do much of the "grunt" work on your own: that is, find the documents and the witnesses needed, and prepare any necessary financial schedules or exhibits. With this combination of methods, one can make a significant reduction in litigation cost. We saw that in A Civil Action, the plaintiffs did not participate in any of the pretrial process. They could conceivable assist in finding the witnesses, or even provide the food for the attorneys, who would have charged for this.

Today we see many frivolous cases filled, perhaps based upon the limited resources of the defendant. If a defendant does not have the means to provide an adequate defense, or asses the possible cost of litigation and decides it would be advantageous to settle, then the plaintiff has won with little to no effort. These cases are growing in number and are becoming ever more ridiculous. One example of such a case is a woman who filled a complaint against a neighbor for having a basketball hoop too close to her fence. This case was settled for a few hundred dollars?the defendant was afraid that the cost of the litigation would far out weigh the few hundred-dollar settlement. This is a clear example of misuse of the system; however, it also illustrates an excessive litigation cost."