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((About|the book|the film|A Civil Action (film)))
((hatnote|For the legal term, see [[Lawsuit]].))
((more citations|date=December 2020))
((Infobox book
| name          = A Civil Action
| image         = Civilactionbook.jpg
| caption       = Cover to the paperback edition
| author        = [[Jonathan Harr]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| genre         =
| published     = August 29, 1995
| publisher      = [[Random House]]
| media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover]] and [[Paperback]])
| pages         = 500
| isbn = 978-0-394-56349-7
| congress      = KF228.A667 H37 1996
| oclc          = 31969453
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   = [[The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece]]
))
((Short description|1995 non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr))
'''''A Civil Action''''' is a 1995 [[non-fiction]] book by [[Jonathan Harr]] about a water contamination case in [[Woburn, Massachusetts|Woburn]], [[Massachusetts]], in the 1980s.<ref name="auto">((Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/bsp/18426.html|title=Toxic Business|work=[[The New York Times]]))</ref>  The book became a best-seller. It won the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] for nonfiction.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/23/books/a-civil-action-wins-critics-award.html|title=A Civil Action' Wins Critics' Award (Published 1996)|first=William|last=Grimes|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 23, 1996))</ref>

The case is ''[[Anderson v. Cryovac]]''. The first [[law report|reported]] decision in the case is at 96 F.R.D. 431 (denial of defendants' motion to dismiss).

A 1998 [[A Civil Action (film)|film of the same name]], starring [[John Travolta]] as plaintiff's lawyer Jan Schlichtmann and [[Robert Duvall]] as [[Beatrice Foods]] attorney Jerome Facher, was based on the book.

== Plot summary ==
After finding that her child is diagnosed with [[leukemia]], Anne Anderson notices [[Cancer cluster|a high prevalence of leukemia, a relatively rare disease, in her city]]. Eventually she gathers other families and seeks a lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, to consider their options.

Schlichtmann originally decides not to take the case due to both the lack of evidence and a clear defendant. Later picking up the case, Schlichtmann finds evidence suggesting [[trichloroethylene]] (TCE) contamination of the town's water supply by Riley Tannery, a subsidiary of [[Beatrice Foods]]; a chemical company, [[W. R. Grace and Company|W. R. Grace]]; and another company named [[Unifirst]].

In the course of the lawsuit Schlichtmann gets other attorneys to assist him. He spends lavishly as he had in his prior lawsuits, but the length of the discovery process and trial stretch all of their assets to their limit.

Though Unifirst settles for a little over $1 million, the money immediately is invested in the case against Grace and Beatrice.  The plaintiffs' case against Grace is far stronger for two reasons: (1) Schlichtmann has a personal testimony of a former employee of Grace who had witnessed dumping, and (2) a [[Aberjona River|river]] between Beatrice's tannery and the contaminated wells makes Beatrice's contribution to the contamination less likely. The jury finds Beatrice not liable. Though Schlichtmann's firm anticipates a much higher settlement, the dire state of its finances forces it to accept a settlement from W.R. Grace for $8 million.

Schlichtmann disperses the settlement to the families, excluding expenses and attorney's fees (which resulted in approx. $375,000 per family). When some families think Schlichtmann had overbilled expenses, he acquiesces and surrenders more of his fee. Schlichtmann later files for bankruptcy after losing his condo and car; he lived in his office for a time. Schlichtmann eventually practices environmental, civil, and personal injury law.

A report from the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (which later filed its own lawsuits against the companies based on new evidence) concludes from sludge removed from the site that both companies had contaminated the wells.

In 1988, Schlichtmann attempts to reraise the case against Beatrice, but the judge dismisses the case, citing testimony from Beatrice's soil chemist. However, due to the lawsuits brought forward by the Environmental Protection Agency, W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods are eventually forced to pay for the largest chemical cleanup in the history of the Northeastern United States at that time, which cost about $68 million.

==Critical reception==
''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that "Harr does not overdramatize individual scenes, but he does depict a world containing three types of people: innocent victims, lonely crusaders and the malignant pawns of the corporate state."<ref name="auto"/> ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' called the book "a crash course in big-bucks tort litigation, as rich as any novel on the scene."<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jonathan-harr/a-civil-action/|title=A CIVIL ACTION &#124; Kirkus Reviews|via=www.kirkusreviews.com))</ref>

== References ==
<references />

((Woburn, Massachusetts))

((DEFAULTSORT:Civil Action))
[[Category:1995 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1995 in the environment]]
[[Category:American non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Non-fiction books adapted into films]]
[[Category:English-language books]]
[[Category:Environmental non-fiction books]]
[[Category:National Book Critics Circle Award-winning works]]
[[Category:Random House books]]

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