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6 unusual facts about A Civil Action


Beatrice Foods

The case became the subject of the popular book and film A Civil Action.

Conrad W. Hall

Before becoming cinematographer, he worked with his father on several productions including A Civil Action (1998) and American Beauty (1999) as camera operator and director of photography (second unit).

George Pinder

He was featured as a character in the movie A Civil Action, based on the Woburn toxic waste case and starring John Travolta.

Mark Wahlstrom

In 2005 he co-founded The Legal Broadcast Network with Attorney Jan Schlichtmann, the lawyer featured in the book and movie, A Civil Action.

Sandra Lynch

During her tenure at Foley Hoag, Lynch became the first woman to head the firm's litigation practice, and was among the team of lawyers representing defendant W.R. Grace & Co. in the Woburn, Massachusetts, toxic tort trial (the subject of Jonathan Harr's 1995 book A Civil Action.) Lynch remained in private practice until being appointed to the First Circuit.

Walter Jay Skinner

Skinner is noted for his role in the groundwater contamination case out of Woburn, Massachusetts, which became the basis for the book A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award for NonFiction, and the subsequent film of the same name starring John Travolta (in which Skinner was portrayed by John Lithgow).



see also

Carlos Mario Jiménez

On June 14, 2010, the Center for Justice & Accountability along with the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati instituted a civil action in the Southern District of Florida against Macaco alleging torture, extrajudicial killing, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Center for Justice and Accountability

In February 2002, CJA filed a civil action against the Liu Qi — Mayor of Beijing and head of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Committee.

Rich Koz

In his Son of Svengoolie persona, Rich Koz is also known for the early '80s 3-D broadcast of Revenge of the Creature (the sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon) that resulted in a civil action lawsuit by people who felt they didn't get enough 3-D for the 89 cents they spent for the cardboard glasses.

Samuel Boteler Bristowe

At a sitting of the Nottingham District County Court, Bristowe had dismissed a civil action in which a German manufacturer of false teeth sued someone for the value of a set of teeth.