A Civil Action follows a civil lawsuit through all the procedures of the litigation, much of which we have learned of and discussed in class. The plaintifffs complaint involves several families who claim W.R. Grace and Beatrice foods are responsible for the dumping of a chemical known as trichloroethylene, and the companiesf malfeasance is responsible for polluting the drinking water of the town, which has caused leukemia and death in the children

of these families. The defendants answer by denying all the allegations, and ask for a motion to dismiss. The judge denies the motion to dismiss and the trial continues. During the pretrial discovery depositons and interrogatories are taken. During this part of the trial Schlichtmann and his associates try to find any employees involved in the dumping of chemicals, and both sides of the lawsuit can get an idea of how the trial will take place, or how the testimony of these witnesses will effect the outcome of the trial. In my opinion, Schlichtmann wants to use emotion as a factor in winning the case, whereas the defense attorneys Faucher and Cheeseman want to leave emotion and sympathy out of the case and base it purely on facts and evidence. The trial follows and both sides present their cases. One thing I found interesting was the judgefs decision to allow a motion for a directed verdict based on three questions asked to the jury. This allowed the defense to possibly avoid Schlichtmannfs attempt to use the testimony of the victims. I was able to follow the procedures of the case from les

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