Woburn Case Summary

670 Words2 Pages

SUMMARY OF “A CIVIL ACTION” Woburn is a small town in Massachusetts which their local drinking water were contaminated with several carcinogens as a result of Industrial pollution. It all started late in 60’s to early 70’s where up to 12 cases of children were afflicted with leukemia. This led to a group of parents of children who were affected by this life-threatening illness to seek justice for causes of the the epidemic and to bring anyone or company involve to book . They consulted an injury lawyer in Boston in person of Jan Schlihtmann who took up the case which had once been neglected after he discovered the defendant are deep pockets company. Jan filed a complaint against Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace company claiming they were …show more content…

The Environmental protection agency later filed a law suit against the companies demanding 69million clean up charges which both company agreed to pay .Jan Schlictmann eventually filled for bankruptcy of $1.2m THEME : NEGLIGIENCE TORT Negligience is the major key to be considered. Most businesses only care about profit and neglect the hazard they pose on the environment. The two companies were making so much money that it wouldn’t cost a lot to clean up considering the profit they make. They eventually paid $69million but what about the destiny that has been destroyed because of their negligence. They knew dumping of these chemicals was polluting the local water and causing life threatening health issues but they never cared. In addition, this type of negligence is also associated with the Niger Delta part of Nigeria where most of the petroleum Industries are performing there operations. Oil spillage is a major problem in this area causing environmental and ecological hazard for the people in this area but the Industries and the government fails to compensate them. In everything we do,let us always ask ourself this ethical questions: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all

Show More
Related

  • The Effects of BP Oil Spill

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Deepwater Horizon was a dynamically positioned drilling rig which owned by Transocean and it was chartered to BP from 2008. On April 20, 2010, the offshore oil rig exploded, the explosion was the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry as the oil leaked 205.8 million gallons of crude oil into Mexico Gulf Coast and BP spent 86 days to cap the well, stopping the oil flow into Mexico Gulf for the first time. This report covered some facts about the BP oil spill scandal and its influence to stakeholders. The article also includes the analysis of oil spill from accounting, legal, ethical and corporate governance aspects. Furthermore, a comparison between The BP oil spill and Enron scandal is for analyze the similarities and differences of these two cases, and explore any improvement and change on legislation, accounting standards, code of conduct etc. The purpose of this report is reveal to directors what did BP do wrong in the past and what aspect the firm could do better in the future.

    Read More

  • The Nature of Corruption in John Grisham's Novel "The Appeal"

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a chemical company called Krane Chemicals poisons the ground water with chemical toxic waste hundreds of people die of cancer or get seriously ill. When Mary Grace and Wes Payton win the case the against the company, the shares drop dramatically. Carl Trudeau, who owns an impressive amount of shares looses over one billion dollars in one day, an...

    Read More

  • Exley Chemical Case Analysis

    1621 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of this analysis is to offer insight into difficulties experienced by Exley Chemical Company. Case analysis will provide an objective view of the identified problems (both macro and micro), the causes, affected systems, alternatives and recommendations. In a collaborative effort, this report reflects multiple observations and opinions regarding the case analysis.

    Read More

  • Negligence In The Film A Civil Action

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Reduce the National Speed Limit to 55

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vidal John, “Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it” guarding.co.uk, The Observer, 30 May 2010, web, 26 August 201

    Read More

  • Trial Procedure in the Movie A Civil Action

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before the jury decides a verdict, the last step in the trial process is the closing arguments. There were no closing arguments because the parties had to settle on nine million dollars. They did this because the plaintiff’s attorneys went bankrupt due to this case and they couldn’t afford to invest any more money into the case. Beatrice Foods ended up being not liable for the deaths of children so they were allowed to leave the case. Due to this, only W.R. Grace had to settle with the plaintiff. Later on in 1988, Jan Schlichtmann brought this case to the EPA’s attention and the EPA decided to bring lawsuits against the companies. W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods ended up having to pay for their huge mistake. They had to pay for the largest chemical cleanup in the Northeastern which cost sixty- four million dollars.

    Read More

  • Union Carbide Essay

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Late on the night of December 2, 19841, massive amounts of methyl isocyanate gas (500 times more poisonous than cyanide) leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, immediately killing at least 2,000 people1 and causing significant illness and premature death to many more. Union Carbide Corporation “UCC” immediately tried to distance itself from legal responsibility, in what would become the worst industrial accident in history at that time. Eventually it reached a settlement with the Indian Government and paid $470 million2 in compensation, a relatively very small amount, based on significant severity of the long-term health consequences of exposure and the number of people exposed. The disaster indicated a need for stricter international standards for environmental safety and industrial disaster preparedness.

    Read More

  • Schlichtmann V. Woburn Case

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the cases were settled out-of-court, the attorney fee was paid by each side. Schlichtmann and his partners charge the plaintiffs in the Woburn case by 28 percent of $8 million for the contingency fee and left around $375000 to each family. In this case, the attorneys were paid based on the contingency basis, which put Schlichtmann and the chance of winning the Woburn case on the brink. While

    Read More

  • Essay On The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    400 Words  | 1 Pages

    The world’s 3,000 largest companies are causing $2.2 trillion in environmental damage every year according to Greenbiz. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 was catastrophic. Millions of gallons of oils spilled from the explosion of the oil drill. The company was not running maintenance checks and fixes. Pressure built up with the drill and the hole they were drilling from could not be closed. So oil kept pouring out for over three months. Spilled approximately 11 million U.S. gallons of oil and considered most damaging oil spill to the environment. A quarter million animals died and billions of salmon and herring eggs died. Today you can still see oil around coastal areas in that region. Contamination of water in Flint and Belmont. Government

    Read More

  • Corporate Greed And Corruption Is Wrong

    290 Words  | 1 Pages

    If I was the CEO of Wateroil and my company just had the largest oil spill in history, I would tell the investigators right away that it was not an accident. I would feel terrible that it is affecting a lot of people’s lives and businesses. The faster the truth is told about what happened, the faster the issue can be resolved even though there will be consequences. I don’t think I could live with the guilt of knowing how many lives were affected but I didn’t tell the truth just to save my job and company. Corporate greed and corruption is exactly what is taking place in this situation. Corporate greed and corruption is the act of intentionally deceiving, lying, cheating, and stealing in business.

    Read More

  • Nigerian Oil Sector Case Study

    1184 Words  | 3 Pages

    The oil sector has faced more problems than benefits, which has limited its development over the years. Some of which include; poor funding of investments, smuggling and diversion of petroleum products, corruption amongst government officials, fraudulent domestic marketing practices, environmental hazards and product adulteration.

    Read More

  • Nigerian Government Officials

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are three main problems existing in Nigeria. The first is the environmental damage being done by the oil rigs (O’Neill). As the oil spills and gas flares leak into the air and water ways, they not only kill off the animals and plants, but they then affect the Nigerian people. The lack of food sources and clean water supply leads to starving citizens with dangerous health problems from inhaling the toxic fumes. The second and third major problems are being caused so-called rebels who are not only bombing oil pipelines throughout the country, but are also kidnapping hundreds of the pipeline workers for ransom money—asking for as high as $10 million each. Among the parties at the forum today, the international corporations are obviously...

    Read More

  • Seabins Research Paper

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oil spills occur because of an accident or human errors. Oil is among the most important energy sources used in the world and because of its uneven distribution, it is transported by ships across the oceans and by pipelines across the lands. This has resulted in several accidents

    Read More

  • Case Study Of Shell Nigeria

    3897 Words  | 8 Pages

    Shell Nigeria’s activities included “exploring and producing oil and gas onshore as as offshore and gas sales and distribution. Shell also has an interest in Nigeria’s largest liquefied natural gas plan (NLNG)”. Shell Nigeria was founded in 1938 and obtained a licence to search for oil throughout Nigeria. In 1956 Shell found commercial oil and then the first export of this oil occurred in 1958. The Niger Delta area is a poor area where the majorities of Shell’s operations were, and still are being carried out. Niger Delta is rich in natural resources with 85% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product coming from the area. Before 1995 when Shell’s CSR strategy hadn’t became scrutinized, Shell’s strategy focused on reputation management and risk. In 1995 this changed as members of the MOSOP activist group were protesting for a fairer share of the wealth from oil and also for compensation for environmental damage were brutally executed by the National army who were funded and aided by Shell.

    Read More

  • Business Ethics And Ethics In The Business Environment

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    This wrong decision lead the firm to lose huge amount of money that can be avoided if he did not remove some risks from safety management. The Deep Horizon Explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that lead to the death of 11 workers in addition to the demolition of the environment. The loss that the firm paid as compensation to claimants for the explosion was near fifteen billion dollar. Later it was shown that the explosion was a consequence of the weak culture they have and the lack of ethical leadership since the CEO was ignoring the experts' advice, hiding facts, and neglecting warnings. As a result, they lose some properties and their image was destroyed because safety is one of the most ethical values for BP and they could not maintain

    Read More

More about Woburn Case Summary

Open Document