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The cover of A Civil Action

A Civil Action

Jonathan Harr

Does justice prevail if a lawyer works hard enough, when families take large companies to trial?

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At a glance

Author
Jonathan Harr

Why read it

  • You will see how a big lawsuit really runs inside a law firm, so you judge courtroom stories more realistically
  • You will learn how a law firm's money problems can shape the choices of a case
  • You will question whether hard work and proof are enough to win justice

Who it is for

  • Lawyers facing a case that could cost their firm everything
  • Readers who want to see how the legal system really works
  • Anyone who assumes the better side always wins in court

The idea people argue about

Harr's account raises a difficult question about whether civil litigation is a reliable way to discover scientific truth. The Woburn families seek an explanation for illness, while the legal process demands admissible evidence, named defendants, deadlines, strategic choices, and a verdict framed by specific questions. A common objection is that the case's emotional force can make the suspected contamination seem more conclusively proven than the trial established. Harr preserves that uncertainty by showing disputes over hydrogeology, exposure, medical causation, witness memory, and the judge's division of the trial. He also shows that settlement value depends on cost and risk, not only on an agreed account of what happened. The book therefore supports the families' search and documents serious contamination evidence without turning a civil case into a controlled scientific experiment or a final verdict on every claimed causal link.

Three common misunderstandings

  1. The book does not report a jury finding that contaminated wells caused every leukemia case. The trial was divided, the jury answered limited questions about contamination timing, and medical causation never received the complete courtroom test that Schlichtmann wanted.
  2. Schlichtmann is not portrayed simply as a selfless hero opposed by villains. Harr shows his commitment to the families alongside vanity, risky spending, strategic mistakes, pressure on colleagues, and an appetite for a case that threatened his firm.
  3. The settlement did not end every inquiry into Woburn contamination or make all remaining evidence irrelevant. Later evidence, regulatory work, and further legal action complicated the result and helped expose information that had not been fully developed before the first agreement.

Contents

  1. To the Reader
  2. Boston July 1986
  3. Woburn Summer 1966
  4. The Lawyer
  5. Rule 11
  6. Orphans & Dogs
  7. Discovery
  8. The Woodshed
  9. Billion-Dollar Charlie
  10. Facher’s Plea
  11. The Trial
  12. The Vigil
  13. The Negotiation
  14. Blindman’s Buff
  15. Afterword to the Vintage Edition
  16. A Note on Sources

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