Jerome Facher, a Boston lawyer who successfully defended a tannery accused of water pollution that plaintiffs linked to a cluster of childhood leukemia deaths — a case that became the basis of a best-selling book and a Hollywood movie — died on Sept. 19 at his home in Arlington, Mass. He was 93.Oct 7, 2019
Judge Skinner refused to allow Schlichtmann to introduce evidence that Schlichtmann said proved Grace lied to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1982 about the extent of contamination on the site.
Cheeseman is a senior partner with another Boston law firm, Foley, Hoag and Eliot, and he has consistently represented W. R. Grace in a variety of lawsuits, most of which have related to environmental pollution.Oct 2, 2017
In May of 1979 a major story broke in Woburn. Several barrels of chemicals had been found dumped near the Aberjona River. When state investigators tested Wells G and H, they found that they were contaminated with TCE (tetrachloroethylene — a suspected carcinogen) and other industrial byproducts.May 14, 1984
The jury deliberated for nine days and found W.R. Grace liable and Beatrice Foods not liable of contaminating wells G and H.Nov 14, 2016
At the conclusion of Phase 1, the jury found W.R. Grace liable of contaminating municipal Wells G and H and found Beatrice Foods not liable. This finding, in essence, dismissed Beatrice from the case, and gave notice to Grace that it would continue into Phase 2 of the trial.Jun 18, 2020
For the latest quarter assessed by the U.S. EPA (January 2021 - March 2021), tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
Yet today, nearly 30 years after that landmark court case, the wells that supplied both toxic drinking water and a legacy of cancer to Woburn remain contaminated despite a $21 million cleanup effort.May 24, 2011
In the single largest settlement of its kind in New England, four companies believed responsible for contaminating two Woburn, Mass., drinking water wells have agreed to pay an estimated $69 million to clean up a notorious hazardous waste site, state and federal environmental officials announced.Jul 9, 1991
Residents’ concerns and suspicions naturally grow. Several, including Anne Anderson, begin to take legal action. Joe Mulligan, a lawyer from Boston, is hired for the Woburn case, but he passes it off to his new employee, lawyer Jan Schlichtmann.
That same year, a construction crew discovers a “half-buried lagoon” in Woburn that is contaminated with arsenic and additional carcinogens, as well as pits filled with rotting “slaughterhouse wastes.”. Residents’ concerns and suspicions naturally grow. Several, including Anne Anderson, begin to take legal action.
In 1966, children in Woburn, MA, begin to contract leukemia at unusually high rates. Anne Anderson, the mother of a victim, suspects that the local water supply has been contaminated. In 1979, it is discovered that TCE and other carcinogens have been dumped near Woburn. The residents take action, and a legal team led by Jan Schlichtmann launches ...
Plot Summary. In January of 1972, in the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, a woman named Anne Anderson learns that her son, Jimmy, has leukemia. This is a rare disease: it occurs “in fewer than four out of one hundred thousand children each year.”.
An environmental inspector has the water tested, and the state’s environmental department calls for the immediate closure of the wells; the water contains extremely high levels of trichloroethylene (TCE), which is believed to be a carcinogen.
Over the years, the wells are closed and reopened many times, in a seemingly endless cycle. Residents complain, and the wells are closed; authorities reassure residents that the water is safe, and they are reopened. In 1979, nearly two hundred barrels of industrial waste are discovered not far from Wells G and H.
Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action is based on the true story of the 1986 court case Anderson v. Cryovac, Inc., and the appeals that followed it. The book was published in 1995 and adapted into a movie in 1998. It follows the residents of Woburn, Massachusetts, and their lawyers as they accuse two companies—Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace—of contaminating the town’s water and attempt to bring justice to the children of Woburn who have died from leukemia as a result of this contamination.