A Civil Action: Anne Anderson Vs. Cryovac, Inc.

Per the FMLA, the employee is ordinarily entitled to return to the same shift or equivalent work schedule. In Hunt v. Rapids, the employee contended that the full-time nurse night shift position was not equivalent to the day shift position. The Medical Center contended that the positions were equivalent because the compensation and duties were the same. Hunt v. Rapids Healthcare Sys, 277 F.3d 762 (5th Cir. La. 2001). However, the court of appeals reversed the summary judgment in favor of the employer because it violated her substantive rights under the FMLA by failing to restore her to her previous or equivalent position when she returned from her leave. Id. at 772.

In Monster Steve is on trial for felony murder, while his lawyer Kathy O’brian, is trying to show to the court that Steve is a young American kid that was in the wrong place, the prosecutor Sandra Petrocelli is trying to dehumanize Steve and make him out to be a “Monster” in front of the jury. The prosecution try to separate King and Steve as criminals and not as Americans by associating them with known criminals. They jury is supposed to look at the defended without biased judgment, but instead some of the jury have already made their decision on the case, “I don’t know why we’re wasting time. He’s as guilty as when I first laid eyes on him” (52). Steven and his lawyer not only have to win against the prosecution but also win against

Eisenberg made claim of sexual harassment and told of employees using illegal substances in the warehouse

In the film, A Civil Action, Trial Procedure was shown throughout the entire movie. There are many steps that need to be completed before a verdict and judgment can be reached. These steps are the pleadings, methods of discovery, pretrial hearings, jury selection, opening statements, introduction of evidence, cross examinations, closing arguments, instructions to the jury, and the verdict and judgment. The case in this movie was actually called Anderson v. Cryovac. The plaintiffs are the Anderson family, the Gamache family, the Kane family, the Robbins family, the Toomey family, and the Zona family. The plaintiffs’ attorneys are Jan Schlichtmann, Joe Mulligan, Anthony Roisman, Charlie Nesson, and Kevin Conway. The two co- defendants are

On June 27th, Amya Anderson, 8 years of age, was taken to the emergency room of Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital by her mother. Her mother had received a phone call from Amya’s school nurse that there was a problem with her and that she would need to come and pick her daughter up. Upon arrival the nurse informed the mother that Amya had been crying for most of the morning and would not go to the bathroom because she was afraid that it was going to hurt. Her mother immediately took her to the emergency room for an examination. Amya has always been very forthcoming when she is not feeling well and has no problem telling her mother about any problems or irritations that she is having. Today, however, Amya refused to let her mother see her without any clothing on, not wanting her mother to see her body. When asked what her main source of discomfort was she told her mother that she had pain “down there”, and that her Uncle Joe had touched her “private parts” while he was babysitting her the day prior. The mother agreed to have her doctor perform a pelvic exam where the mother’s worst fears were confirmed. Not only had her uncle molested her, he had raped her and had caused sufficient damage to Amya’s genital area. Upon further questioning Amya admitted that her uncle had been molesting her for the better part of the last year but it wasn’t until the previous day that it had taken a turn for the worse.

Jonathan Harr wrote a compelling novel, called A Civil Action, on the actual events of a thrilling court case involving two major corporations and the families who were affected greatly. In Woburn, Massachusetts there were twenty-eight children who contracted acute lymphocytic leukemia between the years of 1964 and 1986. The explanation for the contraction of the disease and even the death of some of the children was discovered in the water; two municipal wells near the town were found to be contaminated with toxic chemicals. Eight families filed suit against W.R. Grace & Co. and Beatrice Foods Inc., accusing them for the contamination of the wells and the death of their children. The families only wanted an apology and the truth but when

“A civil action” is a non-fiction movie created by Jonathan Harr. The movie is about a case in Woburn, Massachusetts involving water contamination. Anne Anderson notices an unusual high rate of leukemia in Woburn after her son dies from drinking water, and she and the other families that had experienced the same as Anne, decides to see a lawyer to help them look into the problem. Jan Schlichtmann, played by John Travolta gets involved and he looks into the case. At first Schlichtmann decides not to take the case because he discovers that there`s a lack of evidence. Anderson and the other families convince Schlichtmann to take the case and after looking in to the case he finds a evidence containing TCE (trichloroethylene) contamination in the

In the movie A Civil Action we see many different concepts, terminology, and an over all realistic view into the litigation process. This movie shows us what really life lawyers have to deal with while their case is going though the legal system. A Civil Action gives the view great insight on how the litigants and judges play a roll in this complex legal system we have that is not just black in white.

Erin Brokovich, based on a true story, is a story about an intriguing single mother named Erin whose actions eventually lead to the biggest lawsuit against any corporation in history. Struggling, the ball starts rolling for Erin when she gets into a car accident. Her lawyer thinks she will win in a court case from her accident, but they lose. In compensation for the loss, Erin is given a job at the law firm and begins to dig into a case against Pacific Gas and Electric when she finds out they are trying to buy a resident of Hinkley, California’s home to cover up their depositing of a danger chemical. After her research, she finds that many people in Hinkley have all had medical issues related to this and that there is acknowledgement from

There are few things in life that could be worse than loosing you child to such a horrible disease as leukemia. One can only imagine having such a tragedy repeat itself throughout you community time after time. To compound such tragedies, imagine being poisoned yourself and having to fight some of the largest local corporations to prove the truth and get it stopped. This is the community setting for Jonathan Harr's true-to-life legal thriller A Civil Action. The book was an award winner for "Best Seller" in 1995 and was named the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award.

In this case, Lindenwood Pharmaceutical was sued by resident living near the chemical dump site. In fact, they claimed that because of the illegal dumping of chemical wastes by its subsidiary, Lindenwood Chemical Company, the ground water was contaminated causing cancer to the resident and other injuries. Thus, the mother company was sued instead of its subsidiary for an act committed by its subsidiary since 2005. The law stipulates that a parent corporation owning all the stock of the subordinate corporation does not make them the same concern in law. However, in some cases the parent company is held liable for the actions of the subordinate company. These cases arise when there is proof of additional interest to the subordinate corporation

Regarding the case of GE’s dumping of PCB’s into the Hudson, a rather frosty Welch negotiated with the state of New York, settling to pay a mere $3 million dollars for the damage caused to the Hudson River. According to Cray (2001), “GE executives probably hoped the deal would bury the issue forever, and that everyone concerned about the PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) lying on the bottom of the river would let nature take its course.” (Multinational Monitor, 2001)

A Civil action is movie based on a true story of court case about environmental pollution that took place in Wilburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980's. The court case revolves around the issue of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent and its contamination of a local source. Jan Schlichtmann An American Attorney specializing in personal injury Law filed a lawsuit over industrial operation that "cased several children to die from leukemia and cancer, as well as a wide variety of other health problems, among the citizens of the Town."1 Jan originally rejects a seemingly unprofitable case, Jan finds an environmental issue involving groundwater contamination that could be a good case against "some defendants with deep pockets."2 The local tanneries

The camera focuses on a very physically depleted Andrew who is seeking legal counsel to sue the law firm that fired him because he believes that he was fired for having AIDS. He believes that his boss deliberately sabotaged the documents to make him look bad so they could fire him for incompetence rather than his illness. Many lawyers turned down his case. He sought help from an African American man named Joseph Miller and Miller turned his request down because he was gay and he was afraid of getting the AIDS virus from Andrew. During the time Andrew was in Miller’s office, Miller’s face was visibly fearful

During Erin’s discovery of the facts of the case we begin to see the breakdown of the ethical values of PG&E. The dramatization focuses on the deception that PG&E has cast over the inhabitants of Hinkley, California. For years, the company has been polluting the environment with a known deadly toxin, Chromium six. The toxin seeped into natural underground water reservoirs then into the unsuspecting town