Jan Schlichtmann, a tenacious young lawyer, is confronted with the litigation of a lifetime in this unbelievable real-life story. Several families in the small town of Woburn, Massachusetts, have suffered the tragic losses of their children to the rare cancer known as leukemia. After having their claim rejected by most law firms in town, these citizens approach Schlichtmann with the possibility that the deaths of their children may have had to do with Woburn's drinking water supply being contaminated by a couple of local businesses. The rub lies in the fact that these businesses are offshoots of two of the most powerful national corporations in the country! Schlichtmann must push his skill and craftiness as a lawyer to the limit in order to oust his opponents, who are working with a limitless bankroll. Based on the great fact-based novel.
cast
John Travolta as Jan Schlichtmann
quote
Jerome Facher: What's your take?
Jan Schlichtmann: They'll see the truth.
Jerome Facher: The truth? I thought we were talking about a court of law. Come on, you've been around long enough to know that a courtroom isn't a place to look for the truth.
For those unfamiliar with the American legal system -- and count it among your blessings if you are one of them -- it is not generally the stuff of which great drama is made. It is a thing of motions, pleadings, depositions and causes of action, of hundreds of hours spent reading thousands of incoming documents, or redacting thousands of outgoing documents. It is a war of attrition played out in conference rooms, only rarely involving tense attorney-witness confrontations or even-more-tense waits for a verdict. Cinematic law is a satisfying fiction; real law is, for the most part, a laborious game of chicken before an out-of-court settlement.
