...After viewing the 1998 film “A Civil Action” and reading the article by Marc Galanter about “Why the ‘Haves’ Come out Ahead” we see that the framework applied to the American legal system by Galanter in his article at this point in time is held true in the film. What Galanter does is tell us about the two options that sides may be in a legal case. First there are the One-Shotters, which we will refer to as the OSs. These indivduals are often those who are not regulars within the legal system and often are only there once or maybe twice. A fine example of OSs are the husband and wife in a divorce case or the two parents in a custody case. As suggested by the name, these people usually are only in once. When it comes to the results that they expect it is often tangible. Because this is there one and only case, they are not concerned with a reputation in the courts but instead with real, physical, in a way, results. On the flip-side you have the Repeat Players which we will refer to as the RPs. These individuals, again as the name suggests, are those who frequent the courtroom and are often involved the same kinds of cases. These are what one would expect them to be such as the IRS trying people who did not pay their income taxes or a large corporation. Now the goals for a RP are very different than those of an OS. Instead of the tangible goals of the one-shotter, the RPs are out to often establish a reputation and establish relations to shape future decisions made in the courts...
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...A Civil Action Trial Procedure In the movie, A Civil Action, a civil lawsuit takes place between families of the victims of a small town Woburn, Massachusetts against the corporations Beatrice Foods, and W.R. Grace Company. The corporations are being sued by the families for indirectly killing their children by contaminating the water that runs through their town. The attorney that files a lawsuit against the big corporations is Jan Schlichtmann. This movie portrays a great example of a civil trial procedure in the U.S. Court. The first stage of a civil trial procedure are the pleadings, which include the filing of complain, and motions to dismiss. A complaint was made by the families of Woburn, stating that the deaths of their children were the cause of the contamination of their town’s water supply. The complaints were made for the corporations Beatrice Foods, and W.R. Grace Company. Mr. Cheeseman, the attorney on behalf of Grace Company made a motion to dismiss the case but the judge ruled otherwise. The second stage is the pretrial, where discovery of facts and motions for summary judgment take place. In A Civil Action, the discoveries began with depositions of witnesses by the victim’s family members, residents of Woburn, and employees that work for the factories that are being blamed for contaminating the water. Witnesses came up stating that they were experiencing events of abnormal health issues and that it could be correlated with contamination of the water. One...
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...A Civil Action We live on the blue planet; a planet that is named after the abundant presence of water on its surface. So yes there is a lot of water but how much of that water is actually useful to us? Most of the water on Earth is deposited in seas and oceans i.e. it is salty. The human species cannot digest saltwater hence the only water that is useful to us is in the handful of lakes, ponds and under the ground surface. Thus our illusion of there being enough water for us to live on for generations needs to be break. After watching the Civil Action, I realized how much the people around me and I take water for granted. Because it is available to us readily, we do not even think twice about our usage patterns. But we need to realize that the situation depicted in the Civil Action is real and much more common than we think it is. There are people in this world who do not have access to clean drinking water and there are also people who are being lied to about the cleanliness of their drinking water. Water is a basic necessity of life because we need it to survive; in simple words, it is our basic human right. But as seen in the Civil Action, there are many people in this world who are being deprived of their basic right. In the current world, companies like those depicted in the movie are chasing after monetary things like profit and in the process are neglecting safety and health. But is money more important than health? I don’t think so. The Civil Action was a heart-warming...
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...The Civil Action (1988) is film that based on a true story of an environmental lawsuit, which took place in Woburn, Mass. In this movie, Jan Schlittman, a personal injury lawyer, agrees to represent a group of families whose children died from leukemia after a large corporation carelessly deposed toxic chemicals damaged the water supply for Woburn, Mass. This case becomes Jan’s obsession, even to the extent that he is willing to give up everything. When we look at the case in ethical way, we can find several individuals and entities acting unethically. In this paper, we are going to discuss three unethical activities and entity occurred in the movie, including the ways local tanneries deposed toxic chemicals, and try to cover it after the lawsuit has been filed; the defendant attorney’s behaviors throughout the movie; the judge’s position in the case. First unethical activity is the ways local tanneries carelessly deposed toxic chemicals. As we know that toxic chemicals is danger in any course, and need to handle and depose in proper way. However, the local tanneries dump directly to the land, which they call “swimming pool”. After long period of time, the soul was loaded with toxic chemicals, and leaked them to the water supply. This is unethical and morally wrong. Moreover, after t lawsuit has been filed, they rented a dump truck and destroyed the evidences to cover what they did. Second unethical activity is the defendant attorney’s behaviors throughout the movie. In...
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...Civil Action Assignment 3 1. An expert witness is a witness who has knowledge beyond that of the ordinary lay person enabling him/her to give testimony regarding an issue that requires expertise to understand. Experts are allowed to give opinion testimony which a non-expert witness may be prohibited from testifying to. 2. Both sides had to bring in experts in regards to the chemicals that the wells were contaminated with. Then they had to bring in experts in ground water movement, they had to prove chemicals were dumped, and had to prove the chemicals made the people sick. Proving of causation was the reason why so many experts were called on. Every aspect of the evidence had to be proven to be as solid as possible to be allowed in court. 3. Hydrogeologist, Geologist, Engineering Geologist, Soil scientists, Geochemist 4. The first issue is money. Experts are paid for their time and even though it creates a substantial incentive for the expert to advocate a party's position that is not supported by available research and data. This problem is particularly acute with the professional witness, who makes her living testifying as an expert. A professional witness is highly motivated out of self interest to develop relationships with lawyers because those relationships are the expert's lifeblood. The more effective the expert is in advancing the lawyer's case, the greater the likelihood the expert will be retained again. The Safeguards of the Adversary System...
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...A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. Compensatory damages provide a plaintiff with the monetary amount necessary to replace what was lost, and nothing more. They differ from Punitive Damages, which punish a defendant for his or her conduct as a deterrent to the future commission of such acts. In order to be awarded compensatory damages, the plaintiff must prove that he or she has suffered a legally recognizable harm that is compensable by a certain amount of money that can be objectively determined by a judge or jury. One of the more heated issues facing the U.S. legal system during the past quarter century has been the call for reform of states' tort laws. health care providers and other organizations have sought to limit the amount of damages a plaintiff can receive for pain and suffering because they claim that large jury awards in Medical Malpractice cases cause premiums on medical insurance policies to rise, thus raising the overall costs of medical services. California took the lead in addressing concerns with rising medical costs when it enacted the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 3333.2 (1997). The act limits the recoverable amount for non-economic loss, such as pain and suffering, to $250,000 in actions based on professional Negligence against certain health care providers. Although the statute has been...
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...Scenario Involving Civil Liability and Civil Action Jacquelyne Anderson Professor Phillip Edwards CJ499-01 September 14, 2014 In this scenario project I will identify four alleged crimes and one criminal civil action. In addition, I will apply principles involving criminal law relevant to the criminal justice practice, and I will demonstrate my understanding of civil liabilities relative to criminal justice agencies, and practitioners. Furthermore, I will identify case laws relevant to the possible civil action that could be brought against the police officer, the department and the city. After addressing these issues, I will have described a scenario involving a civil liability and a civil action. When identifying the four alleged crimes and the one criminal civil action, regarding this scenario project, the four alleged crimes are: 1) attempted robbery, 2) drug possession, 3) carrying a gun, and 4) assault and battery. After speaking to a female victim, Officer Jones noticed an individual who partially fit the description, and walked toward them. Officer Jones identified himself, and told the individual to stop. Unfortunately, this individual did not stop, and kept on walking from the officer, and the officer shouted again identifying himself, but this time the individual stopped. When the individual stopped he looked at the officer and there was a big bulge in his right pocket, but refused to put his hands where the cop could see them. The subject began...
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...The case in the film A Civil Action deals with a group of families in a small town north of Boston who sued major US companies for leukemia deaths of children, in which were caused by the dumping of poisonous chemicals that entered their local drinking water. The case was against companies such as W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods. Jan a Lawyer defending the families was able to prove that these companies were the reason for the contamination to the local water supply that was causing the health issue. The families wanted an apology, Jan told them asking for money is the closest thing to and apology they’ll get. “ The only apology you’ll get is the one from their checkbooks, the only sincere apology you’ll get is from me… I’m sorry.” [1] If the...
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...In the film A Civil Action, a small personal injury law firm makes a living off conning the public, and winning lawsuits. In order to gain the public’s support to help win their cases, they pretend to care about their clients incidents. They make public appearances claiming they only want to serve justice for their client, and they don’t care about the money. It’s false. They use that as a tactic to gain support when in reality it is just about the money. One case, however, changes the cold heart of Jan Schlichtmann, who ultimately changes the lives of many people as well as his own. The main case that the movie is about is a water safety case. Several families in a small town called Woburn in Massachusetts have lost their children from leukemia....
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...Courts of law in America have one major flaw. The pursuit of truth is overshadowed by the pursuit of money. In A Civil Action, Jan Schlichtmann greatest impacts the resolution of the environmental issue by prioritizing justice over money. Towards the beginning of the movie, Schlichtmann is shown in a silent settlement discussion with another lawyer. His client is visibly severely paralyzed. Schlichtmann doesn’t even seem to consider any offer below what he believes to be just and fair to his client, whose life has essentially been ruined, regardless of each “final” amount. He finally settles for $2 million. Schlichtmann could have easily declined and proceeded with the trial to earn more money for himself, but he decided to only take the justified amount for his...
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...The early stages of the American Revolution, the British were in a bit of an unstable circumstances with their government. After the British handled the parliament situation they tried to reform the British Empire. The first step of the reform was the Navigation acts. The navigation acts, were a set of acts that restricted ships from navigating from the Britain and to the colonies. The navigation act lasted for over 200 years. After the French and Indian war, on October 9, 1763, King George III enacted the proclamation of 1763. This proclamation came about by the Great Britain acquired French territory next to the colonies or in the present day mid west. This forbid settles from settling past a line around the Appalachian Mountains. The British restricted settlers and it was very clear they also tried to make the settlers in the colonies very hard and troubled. The colonies did not take these acts and proclamations lightly. Americans quickly resisted the British reformed acts. The American Resistance began after the British Parliament by quickly constructed the Sugar Act of 1764. This act set the presidency that the American colonies could act in the same manner in the British. This act was started because during the long standing Navigation act, the British paid the revenue raising taxes, now with Sugar act this turned the tables and the colonies were now taking the brunt of that. The British parliaments goal was to raise 100,000 pounds, which some sources even say that is...
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...How far were the actions of the African Americans the main reason for the advancement of the Civil Rights in the period 1865-1980? “Power concedes nothing without demand, it never has and it never will”[1]. Said by Fredrick Douglass in 1857, an escaped slave who had bearded the brunt of the slave years. He had come to the realisation that African Americans had a fountain of “power”; however that power that they possessed would never establish anything without a “demand”. Fredrick Douglass awoke the conscious of African Americans to make them realise that wanting to be free and wanting to achieve full civil rights was not enough, neither was enduring a life under white supremacy waiting for life after death to see a new dawn .Believing and hoping was not enough. “Power concedes nothing without demand” the solution is to be willing to work hard to establish it yourself by demanding what belongs to them. However using power in order to concede civil rights was a struggle which was acknowledged by Fredrick Douglass “Without struggle there is no success”. To achieve advancement in African American Civil Rights, African Americans had to undergo a process of struggle. A rainbow is not made without rain; you can not want rain without thunder and lightening being accompanied by it. To achieve full civil rights African Americans had to pay the price along the way which was persecution, de-humanisation and scrutiny. Martin Luther King being inspired by Fredrick Douglass said “Freedom...
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...why Hult is right choice to pursue an MIB Degree as it gives us exposure to study in two different parts of world in 1 year. With this you get an opportunity to understand culture of two different countries and work in a different environment with people from various nationalities. Secondly, it gives an opportunity to build lifelong international connections. We get an opportunity to network with people from over 120 nations. To pursue an MIB degree while studying with people from such diverse background gives us an experience to work with multinational teams. I believe no other business school offers such unique opportunity. Also, Hult offers unique business experience in 1 year through the Action Learning Project. As a part of curriculum it offers student to work on real life action project for 3 months. Also, the faculty of Hult International Business School come from diverse background and have worked for various companies like Philips, Xerox etc. which gives students a great chance to network and helps to prepare for jobs. Hence, I would conclude that to pursue an MIB degree, Hult International Business School would be right and best option as it stands apart from other Business Schools. Opportunity for studying in 2 campuses, building lifelong international connections and a chance to have...
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...LEARNING TEAM CHARTER – TEAM “B” |Course Title |BCOM/275 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND CRITICAL THINKING | | | | | | | | | | | Team Members/Contact Information |Name | |Phone | |Time zone and | |Email | | | | | |Availability During the Week | | | | | | | | | | | |Erica | |803-709-4032 | |SC “Eastern Time” available everyday | |msewilson25@email.phoenix.edu | | | | | | | |msewilson25@hotmail.com | |Nikole | |859-866-0256 | |Eastern Standard Time | |nikolehoskinds@gmail.com | | | | | |Available M-F 6pm-8pm ...
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...lucky. I like apple He/She/it is/verb+s She is a girl. He loves chocolate. They/you are/verb They are hungry. You always play with us. 1. Facts (something is generally known to be true) The sun sets in the west. | The sun never sets in the east or south or north, but always in the west. | 2. Repeated actions or habits Colin always plays soccer on Tuesdays. | Colin plays football regularly - every Tuesday.In English, signal words are often used, e.g.: always, never, seldom, often, regularly,every Monday. | 3. Action set by a time table The train leaves at 9 pm. | Although the action takes place in the future, it takes place regularly and is set by a time table. | 4. Feelings I love her. | When you love someone, that's a state, a fact or emotion, but not an action (like running for example). Whenever you want to express a state, possession, sense or emotions, use the simple form (not the progressive). The following words all belong to this group: * be (I am happy) * hate (I hate you) * hear see smell * like * love * think * understand * want * wish | 5. Permanent actions Ann lives in Shatin. The verbs can, may, might, must remain the same in all forms. So don't add s. Example: he can, she may, it must Verbs ending in o or a sibilant (ch, sh, s, x) add es instead of s. Example: do - he does, wash - she washes A final y after a consonant becomes ie before s. Example: worry - he worries But: A...
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