It was January of 1972. Jimmy Anderson, a three-year-old boy, was taken to the doctor by his parents. They thought he might have a cold. He did not. Instead, Jimmy Anderson was diagnosed with leukemia at Massachusetts General Hospital the following week.

“A Civil Action”, by Jonathan Harr, is a classic. It tells the true story of Woburn, Massachusetts, a town struck by environmental disaster. In the 1980’s, it seemed like this should be an open and shut case. Big corporations violated the Clean Water Act by dumping dangerous chemicals that reached the well water of Woburn. Children died from this contamination. Surely, government officials should jump to their defense and punish the companies. Yet what follows details a case that was litigated for over ten years- showing just how difficult environmental enforcement can be.

For years, families in East Woburn had complained amongst themselves, as well as to town officials, that something was wrong with their well water. Finally, a leukemia cluster was discovered in the area after many children fell ill with the same incurable disease that struck Jimmy Anderson. From the beginning, town officials doubted the possibility that corporations had contaminated Woburn water with their chemicals. It was even more unbelievable that those chemicals could have caused higher levels than normal of childhood leukemia in the area.

Yet Harr details how Jan Schlichtmann, a Boston-area personal injury lawyer without much experience, never gave up on the Woburn victims. Mr. Schlichtmann spares no expense in gathering information and evidence about the case. He and his team eventually file a lawsuit against two corporations in Woburn: Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace. The plaintiffs accused the two companies of dumping the chemical trichloroethylene (now a known carcinogen) and allowing it to reach Woburn drinking water.

“A Civil Action” follows years of litigation between the corporations and the victims. Harr explains exactly how complicated environmental lawsuits can be, turning 10 years into page-turning drama. Compared to the two lawyers for the corporations, Mr. Schlichtmann’s firm does not have as much capital to invest into the case. This becomes a central problem throughout the story, as Schlichtmann’s firm takes on more and more debt in order to be able to aptly represent their clients and seek justice.

This story captures all of the drama surrounding the case as though it were written specifically for big screens across America. In fact, it was made into a blockbuster movie in 1988. Harr writes the accounts of the families in Woburn with painstaking attention to detail, making the reader feel as though they are sitting in the room next to a mother crying about her child being diagnosed with leukemia.

In the end, Mr. Schlichtmann risks everything for his clients in Woburn. The corporations’ lawyers are talented, and the judge is on their side most of the time. As the trial unfolds, it proves to be very contentious. The days are filled with expert witnesses from each side giving competing testimonies. The plaintiffs are forced to decide what they really want to get out of this case.

“A Civil Action” shows how difficult it is for injured parties to make giant corporations pay for environmental harms that they have caused, especially when human health and emotions are involved. Harr depicts the jury as being overwhelmed and confused by the evidence and the decision they need to make when it comes time for deliberations. The legal system is slow, and the corporate lawyers often have more money, staff, and time to put into a case. Although eventually the EPA concluded that both W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods were the source of the chemicals in the water, this finding came too late to benefit the plaintiffs in this case.

“A Civil Action” is an example of how complicated it can be to find a specific party liable for causing environmental harms. When environmental harm detrimentally affects people, like Jimmy Anderson, the stakes are higher, and fingers are pointed in every direction.  In this case, the harmed families of Woburn bring action in a civil case because they do not feel like the government is on their side. When they leave their decision in the hands of the jury, they risk everything. Harr eloquently shows the reader this complexity, and leaves you questioning the effectiveness of environmental regulations in the US.