A Civil Action Chapter Summary Environmental Law

The Lawyer
Jan Schlichtmann went to law school at Cornell with a degree in Philosophy and after
working at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He tried his hand at working at a
Washington D.C. law firm, and another with his former law professor at the House Select
Committee. When both did not pan out, he tried his hand as a country lawyer at Newburyport
where he won his first case, the Eaton case. Preparing for the case to go on trial was difficult. He
was in debt, his only staff was working full time with no pay and he already spent $15K.
Settlement was a non-issue for Schlichtmann; what he wanted was a trial by jury, thinking
(rightly so) that the jury would rule for a much higher verdict. The gamble paid off and
Schlichtmann was able to get $300K for his clients, his cut amounting to almost a hundred
thousand. He then decided to become a trial lawyer, sending out letters to law firms in Boston.
While waiting for updates he was able to land a major case concerning an airplane crash wherein
he represented one of the victims. Reed & Mulligan, a law firm in Boston, represented the
estates of the two passengers in the plane crash. The pilot had an insurance policy payable to the
victims if it was shown to be that the pilot acted negligently. Barry Reed, senior partner, asked
Schlichtmann if he would let Reed handle the case, with a referral fee to be paid once the case
was settled. Schlichtmann refused and he was allowed to work with Reed & Mulligan to work
on this case. After gathering his evidence, Schlichtmann filed suit at the Massachusetts Superior
Court three months later, and they were able to negotiate with the insurance company regarding
the payout.
Joe Mulligan was still the lawyer for Donna Robbins in the malpractice suit but the case
had not prospered, especially since Robbie had died. He took on the Woburn case but little work
had been done on the case, especially that there would be no basis for filing a lawsuit and the
source of the contaminants was yet identified. However he thought that there was something in
this case and passed this to Jan Schlichtmann, who will be assisted by Kevin Conway. Conway
did not like the Woburn case at all and tried to steer Schlichtmann away from it.
Schlichtmann met with the families at Trinity Episcopal, with Rev. Young, Anne
Anderson and the other families in attendance. The case would not prosper, he said, because
they would not have a defendant and the costs would be prohibitive. However Rev. Young had
been just been on a conference call with the executive director of a public-interest law firm
called Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. Anthony Roisman said that they were looking for a good
environmental case and Woburn seemed to be interesting. Money has been earmarked for just a
cause but they couldn’t take the case from another lawyer.
Schlichtmann was very pleased and did not drop the case. He decided to work with
Roisman with Roisman as lead counsel and he as local counsel. Both worked on getting
evidence, even hiring an expert in groundwater contamination and hazardous wastes, who told
them that the contamination appeared to be coming from a manufacturing plant owned by W.R.
Grace, a chemical company. The other source came from the wooded land owned by JJ Riley
Tannery, which was owned by Beatrice Foods, producer of consumer goods. Finally, with
defendants in place, they filed a complaint eight days before the statute of limitations expired.
Conway had misgivings but with Roisman as lead counsel, it would mean that Roisman would
do much of the work.