MovieChat Forums > A Civil Action (1999) Discussion > Brief Summary

Brief Summary

posted 19 years ago by swoop_23
9 replies | jump to latest

A Civil Action is about a small law firm that took on a huge case which in the end caused all four lawyers to be flat out broke. They were all trying to figure out these mysterious deaths of many children in the surrounding community. A near by factory on the river was a definate suspect. As the researching continued, they small firm was able to locate some of the workers that took part in a major role of the factory. Many were witnesses to some important events. For instance, on man new were some barrells of waste were buried and how they might contribute to the contaminated water. While another man knew that the waste was just dumped out. The opposing side batteled long and hard and they ended up winning the case. Hardly any money was given to the families of the lost children. Money cannot take place for a lost soul. The small firm ened and each person went their own way. Jan, the head lawyer, continued his work on his own. There he actually solved the case and found out the real truth about the chemical waste, but it was too late and he didn't have the money to do anything about it.

[–] kae_12 19 years ago

Your right that money can't replace a lost sould, but like Jan had said that is the way that lawyers say they are sorry. It is not a very good way, but if thats all they can do then thats all they can do.

[–] envirogansta 19 years ago

i agree with what was said and like the others don't know what else to add.

[–] kayt_10 19 years ago

That was the sad part, that he spent most of his life on this case, to then in the end find out what happened! But I think this movie was a good movie, showing that other people go out of their way to help others, I wish there were more movies like this one!

[–] luv_2_shop_06 19 years ago

I think its great that you know this much about the movie! it shows how much you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it very much also! In the end they did shut down the plants and the people did get their appologies.

[–] ssj2_player 19 years ago

Jan's work did end up winning the case. The EPA took his info and won the case, which cleaned up the area and gave the families millions of dollares

[–] ashv03 19 years ago

This is a really good summary. I like how in depth you went into the movie! I f I were to not understand the movie then you read this summary then I would have understood everything.

[–] BanduDandu 13 years ago

Can someone just answer a question for me?
who did he send the final letter to after he figures out what exactly was wrong? He writes that he hopes "you would do a better job than me" or something along those lines. who is he writing too?

[–] avatar1140 12 years ago

He is writing to the EPA

[–] fanaticita 8 years ago

ssj2: "Jan's work did end up winning the case. The EPA took his info and won the case, which cleaned up the area and gave the families millions of dollares".

Yes! In the end Jan may not have gotten what he wanted in this case, but the EPA took over and more or less came to his rescue in resolving the case, thank goodness.