"A Civil Action"

Paper Summary:

The paper explains how pollution in the water of Woburn, Massachusetts in 1966 and its subsequent alleged deaths was attributed to the actions of corporations. Jonathan Harr explored the trial; the detailed legal wrangling, the lives that were affected and lost and the verdict and its aftermath. The paper discusses three main reasons why Harr's novel leaves a favorable impression of the civil trial system and addresses the critical question of whether or not justice was served in the case itself. The paper offers insights into Harr's thinking before, during and after the trial and presents an analysis of the actual trial documents that were prepared by the attorneys for the plaintiffs. The paper is of the opinion that in "A Civil Action," Jonathan Harr weaves skillful authorship with all of the power and emotion of the legal system.

Outline:
Three Main Reasons Why "A Civil Action" Leaves a Favorable Impression of the Civil Trial System of Justice
Was Justice Done in the Woburn Case?
Closing Thoughts

From the Paper:

"In 1966, a priest who recently moved to the small town of Woburn, Massachusetts, noticed that the drinking water in his adopted hometown was bad- foul smelling, brown in color, and undrinkable. While this was viewed by most people up to this time as nothing more than inconvenience, it became something more when people, particularly the children of the town, began to be stricken with Leukemia in ever-increasing numbers. Ultimately, the cause of the pollution in the water and its subsequent alleged damaging affects was attributed to the actions of corporations W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods that were industrial presences in Woburn, and had poisoned the town's drinking water with chemical runoff, resulting in huge lawsuits being filed against these corporations(Harr, 1995)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Harr, J. (1995). Civil Action (1st ed.). New York: Random House.
• Legal Commentary Pages. (2001). A Civil Action Legal Commentary Page. Retrieved March 20, 2006, from A Civil Action Legal Commentary Web Site: http://www.civil-action.com.
• Schlichtmann, Conway and Crowley. (1987). Excerpts from Brief for the Plaintiffs-Appellants, Anne Anderson v. Beatrice Foods Co. Retrieved March 21, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.civil-action.com/facts/keydocuments/plaintif.html.

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