A Civil Action Chapter Summary Environmental Law

Woburn: Summer 1966

Woburn was called Tan City at the height of its prosperity, which also supported the
opening of chemical plants to produce leather. After WWII, business waned and the only
tanning company left was the JJ Riley Tannery. Rev. Bruce Young started at the Woburn Trinity
Episcopal Church in 1966. In 1972 he met the Charles and Anne Anderson when they started to
attend his service. They had moved to East Woburn because Annes best friend Carol Gray lived
there. At the start of the year, the Anderson children got sick but the youngest did not get well
soon enough. After checking in with the pediatrician and after a referral at the Massachusetts
General Hospital with Dr. John Truman, it was found out that Jimmy Anderson had acute
lymphocytic leukemia. Jimmy went through an aggressive treatment protocol and was in
remission by mid-year. It was at this time when Anne Anderson met Joan Zona, whose son
Michael was diagnosed with the same illness as Jimmy ten months back, and knew of another
child who Dr. Truman treated. During the course of Jimmys treatment she met other families
who had children with leukemia: the Robbins, the Kanes, and she had heard of the Lilleys too.
The Robbins met the Aufieros whose son died on the way to the hospital. There were other
families who were affected, the Nagles and the Toomeys. Anne Anderson became obsessed
about finding a link between the children and the illness since most of the children who had these
lived in East Woburn, to the point that her marriage deteriorated.
In 1964 when Woburn needed water, city officials dug Wells G and H near the Aberjona
River. These wells served homes mostly in the East Woburn area. In 1967 it was found out that
the wells had poor bacterial quality and so the state health department wanted to shut it down.
It became a cycle - the wells were opened when there was a severe drought and would be closed
when the threat passed. The city engineer had always been adamant that the water passed all
stringent tests, but it was later found out that water from the wells were contaminated with
trichloroethylene (TCE), a carcinogen, as published by the Daily Times, a local newspaper.
Rev. Young set up a meeting with families who were affected, and gave data to Dr.
Truman who in turn called Dr. Clark Heath, an expert in leukemia clusters. During this time,
Donna Robbins called a lawyer to file a malpractice suit. Her son Robbie underwent a surgical
procedure that was found out to be unnecessary and left him with a limp. He was finally
diagnosed with leukemia and succumbed later on. Nothing had come out of Robbies case but it
paved the way for the families to talk to Joe Mulligan, of Reed & Mulligan, about a case against
the city. However, as Joe Mulligan pointed out, who was to blame for TCE in the wells? The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had just begun their investigation but until the report
was complete, the families would have no one to blame.
The EPA report came out a year after Dr. Truman called Dr. Heath. The report
confirmed that there were a number of leukemia cases in east Woburn but it was not significantly
elevated as compared to the national rates. There was also no definitive link between the
contaminated drinking water and leukemia. However the report noted that the source of the
contamination was still unknown and finding out would take a longer period of time.
By this time, five families the Andersons, Robbins, Zonas, Kanes and Toomeys had
gone to Boston to have Joe Mulligan represent them with their personal injury case.