From left: Roger Cramton, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law, meets with attorneys and Cornell Law School alumni Jan Schlichtmann, JD '77, and Donald Frederico, JD '79, and Robert Blomquist, JD '77, professor at Valparaiso University School of Law, in Myron Taylor Hall March 26. Schlichtmann, who is profiled in the best-selling paperback A Civil Action, spoke with students and faculty last week about the toxic tort case against W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods described in the book. Frederico was a legal counsel for Beatrice Foods during the trial, and Blomquist reviewed A Civil Action for the Cornell Law Review. All three participated in a public forum March 26. Charles Harrington/University Photography
Jan Schlichtmann looks nothing like John Travolta. Nonetheless Travolta, of Saturday Night Fever fame, will portray the 1977 Cornell Law School graduate in a movie based on the best-selling paperback A Civil Action.
"I'm just glad it's not Danny DeVito," Schlichtmann, 46, told a Law School audience March 26 of the casting decision. The movie is to begin production this summer.
A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr, is a compelling, much-heralded account of a controversial toxic tort case, in which Schlichtmann represented eight families in Woburn, Mass., in their suit brought in 1982 against W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods for allegedly leaking toxins into drinking water wells. The families claimed the toxins caused a variety of health problems, including a dozen cases of childhood leukemia.
The nine-year legal battle, fraught with controversial rulings from the judge and frequent delays, ended in an $8 million settlement from W.R. Grace, despite the firm never admitting wrongdoing, and a not-guilty verdict for Beatrice Foods. Schlichtmann's attempt for a new trial was denied.
In response to questions from the overflow crowd in a large classroom in Myron Taylor Hall, Schlichtmann admitted making enough mistakes in the trial "to fill a book." A major misstep, he said, was choosing to try the case in federal court, which pitted him against U.S. District Court Judge Walter Jay Skinner, whose rulings, he said, kept the jury from hearing testimony from the victims' families. He also failed to return client phone calls, leading one client to phone a call-in radio program in order speak to Schlichtmann who was being interviewed on the air. Another lapse in judgment came when Schlichtmann and his partners rejected a settlement offer without conferring with their clients.
Also answering questions was law alumnus Donald Frederico, JD '79, who participated in the legal defense of Beatrice Foods. Of Skinner's decision to keep the victims' families from testifying, Frederico argued that they could not have added anything new to the testimony, but would have evoked sympathy from the jury -- which may have helped plaintiffs win a guilty verdict. He countered Schlichtmann's view of Judge Skinner, saying there were various decisions made by the judge that went against the defendants as well.
But when asked whether he would live in Woburn, Frederico said no -- but for reasons not related to the leukemia clusters.
Robert Blomquist, JD '77, a professor at Valparaiso University School of Law, who authored a review of A Civil Action for the Cornell Law Review, provided the academician's view of the case and "the art of lawyering." He said he was troubled by some of the rulings that were made by Judge Skinner.
The forum with Schlichtmann, Frederico and Blomquist was moderated by Roger C. Cramton, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law, and sponsored by the Keck Legal Ethics Program.
The almost decade-long trial had a devastating effect on Schlichtmann: It left him broke and suicidal. But after a two-year, soul-cleansing escape to Hawaii, Schlichtmann returned to the legal battleground, practicing with a Boston law firm. This time, however, he was determined not to participate in any more tort wars.
"I was part of the war and fed the war," he said. "It was wasteful. We need to work together. Our role as lawyers is to help resolve problems, not make problems. Our job is to find the common interests and resolve the dispute. Lawyers have a role in making this occur."
Schlichtmann said lawyers need to become more involved in alternative dispute resolution rather than litigation.
In response to a question, Schlichtmann said he can only hope that Hollywood stays true to A Civil Action, which he said could very well happen now that the screenwriter of the Oscar-winning film Schindler's List will work on the film.
The movie about Schlichtmann and the toxic tort case could provide the kind of sympathetic portrait of a lawyer rarely seen on the screen since Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch in 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird.