In the award-winning novel titled A Civil Action, there are several calculations that caused an epidemic of cancerous carcinogens in a small town called Woburn, Massachusetts. The two main companies responsible were called Beatrice Foods and WR Grace. They faced a federal lawsuit from residents of this community. A major point of contention during the lawsuit is that the two companies overlooked safety concerns for their residents. In other words, children from several families became terminally ill, while others even died. From the latter part of the 1960s to the 1980s, A Civil Action, elaborates the real circumstances of negligence in and out of the courtroom. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The award-winning novel shows the victims of Woburn residents who suffered from leukemia and other diseases that led to massive lawsuits against Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace who was held responsible for the deaths. Although theories surrounding the lawsuit involve the two wells, an investigation finds that the two defendant companies are to blame for the plague. During the proceedings Jan Schlichtmann files a lawsuit for the liability of the two companies for not having won the case. Schilchtmann, along with his lawyer, learns about the negligence throughout the story and the entire legal process. Additionally, because the companies operated in several states, it became a federal issue and not just a state lawsuit. The most inspirational lawyer, Jan Schilchtmann, earned his admiration in the legal community. Furthermore, the novel examines his successful livelihood like no other book does. Jan Schilchtmann one day found his calling in the legal profession. Thus, the novel helps to educate the reader's intellectual background about the duties of lawyers, who are not just cross-examination witnesses, but the entire legal structure that is orchestrated inside and outside the courtroom. The novel describes the procedure on how the lawyers deal with these clients through the legal process regarding such a tragic event due to the negligence of the two companies from the eruption of the late 1960s until the 1980s. By the early 1980s, over 4,800 lawsuits were filed in Federal Court near the Boston area, with federal judges agreeing to hear the case. When selecting judges, they selected a local judge from the city of Woburn, Massachusetts. Also, the Woburn judge's name was actually Jay Skinner. Judge Skinner, at the time, was in his fifties and also suffering from health problems, but he was determined to climb more than two dozen flights of stairs to reach his office to hear the case. The judge has an impeccable reputation for making ethical decisions in cases; therefore, he was the best candidate to select to review the case. In addition to hearing this case, Judge Skinner was aware of the leukemia epidemic in his town in the late 1960s. One of the two defendants named in the law in question was the legal advisor of Beatrice Foods. Their lawyer's name was called Jerome Facher. His credentials included a director role in the litigation department of a local Boston law firm. Facher, who had many years of experience, also completed Harvard Law School and taught trial practice there. Beatrice Foods had a lot of faith in their attorney who could defend them in court against allegations of water contamination that occurred in Woburn in the late 1960s. The other defendant named in the suit was W. R. Grace and his legal counsel, William Cheeseman..