Negligence In The Film A Civil Action

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The movie “A Civil Action” released on January 8, 1999 provides viewers with an extraordinary story of the nightmare that occurred in Woburn Massachusetts in the late 1970’s. The people of this small town at the time had no idea what was going on until there were various cases of Leukemia in small children that ultimately resulted in the early passing of them. The people eventually had gone to find out that the drinking water in this small town was contaminated and there were many women that stepped in to get answers. This movie is a tremendously jaw dropping, eye opening account of a heartbreaking true story incident. There are various elements of negligence in this movie including, duty, legal cause, proximate cause and damages. First off, as a corporation handling a towns water systems, it is the duty of the individuals within the company to take care of the water in a responsible …show more content…

In the beginning of the movie, the mothers of the victims went to Mr. Schlichtmann who was the lawyer that ultimately helped them with their case. All they ultimately wanted was an apology. However, Schlichtmann worked for a small firm. This firm typically took clients who are too poor to pay usually rather expansive legal fees in hopes of winning and receiving a chunk of a large settlement. As he sits and listens to the devastated mothers of the affected children, he contemplates if this is a case that would be worthy of getting involved with. Ultimately, as he did get involved with the case, he was able to prove that there was proximate cause. It is evident that various people were injured/hurt in this incident. Proximate cause is the defendant having foreseen the possible outcomes a such a situation and in this case it is easy to tell the possibilities of allowing hazardous waste into drinking water and even destructing the

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