ERIN BROCKOVICH( 2 0 0 0 )

ERIN BROCKOVICHBased on the true story of a... MORE >$12.98Regularly $12.98buy

now
Erin Brockovich, a twice-divorced, unemployed mother of two young children and an infant,
consults lawyer Ed Masry of the Van Nuys, California firm Masry and Vititoe, regarding
claims for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident that was not her fault. Although
Ed assures her that he can get her a large settlement, he loses the case. Some time later,
Erin, who has been unable to get work, bullies her way into a job as a file clerk with Ed's
firm. Erin also meets a new neighbor, George, who has a passion for motorcycles and whom
her children adore. One day, while filing, Erin comes across a pro-bono case against the San
Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that Ed is handling on behalf of residents of
Hinkley, California. When Erin asks Ed if she can assist with the case, he absent-mindedly
agrees and Erin soon drives to Hinkley. There she meets with housewife Donna Jensen, who
explains that both she and her husband Peter are seriously ill and that PG&E, a significant
presence in the community, has been paying the family's medical bills as well as trying to
buy their house. The Jensens suspect that hexavalent chromium, known as Chromium 6, in
use at the PG&E plant, may be causing their illness. Later, Erin learns from a UCLA professor
that chromium 6 is added to water as an anti-corrosive and that certain levels of chromium
6 contamination can cause all kinds of illnesses, some of which can prove fatal. On the
professor's recommendation, Erin goes to the Lahontan Regional Water Board, which serves
Hinkley, and by playing up to the nave young, male clerk, is able to browse through
hundreds of old records. Her rearch uncovers a cleanup and abatement order to PG&E to
remove hexavelent chromium, because it is contaminating groundwater over a large area.
When Erin returns to Ed's office, she learns that she has been fired, as he had
misunderstood what she was doing. At home, although Erin is reluctant to become involved
with another man, she begins a relationship with George. Later, Ed comes to see Erin, who
is still unemployed, to tell her that the UCLA professor has examined the papers she found
in Hinkley and concluded that the levels of chromium there could be responsible for the
cancer in the Jensen family. Ed apologizes to Erin and, after she apprises him of her other
discoveries, is persuaded to rehire her, with a raise and benefits. Weeks later, a PG&E
representative meets with Ed and Erin and informs them that the company has made a
generous offer to buy the Jensens' home, but denies any responsibility for their medical
expenses. Soon, Tom and Mandy Robinson, who used to live across the street from the
Jensens, come to tell Erin that Mandy has suffered five miscarriages and that their chickens
have died with strange tumors, prompting them to wonder if they are also victims of the
chromium use. Ed and Erin then go to Hinkley, meet with other residents and inform them
that his firm will represent them against PG&E. If they win the case, his fee will be forty
percent of whatever is awarded, but if they lose, his fee will be zero. Erin then interviews
several other families with serious illnesses, hoping to add more families to the claim.
Although Ed, who is close to retirement age, begins to worry about battling a giant company
like PG&E, knowing that they could keep him in court, at great expense, for years, he is
willing to continue, if Erin can produce significant evidence. Erin then collects water samples
around Hinkley. Nine months later, Ed and Erin attend a community picnic in Hinkley,
seeking to add more names to their growing list of four hundred and eleven plaintiffs. The
case is costing a great deal and Ed is forced to take a second mortgage on his house. He
feels that the punitive damages claim hinges on whether the PG&E head office in San
Francisco was aware of what was going on in Hinkley and uses a legal ploy of bringing a
preliminary suit against PG&E in the San Bernardino County Court for damages and medical
expenses due to ground water contamination. Although PG&E submits a motion to strike the
claim, the judge rules in favor of the residents and reprimands PG&E's lawyers, who later
offer Ed and Erin a twenty-million dollar settlement, which they decline. Meanwhile, Erin's

relationship with George and her children is deteriorating, as she is seldom home. George
asks her to quit her job, but she cannot because it has brought her recognition, along with
great self-respect, and she no longer is willing to adjust her life to the needs of the men in
her life. Although Erin asks George to stay, he reluctantly leaves. Erin is angered when she
learns that Ed has engaged a new partner, Kurt Potter, an expert in toxic cases, to work on
the Hinkley litigation, but Kurt has given Ed a check covering all expenses to date. Later, Ed
presents Erin with a check for five thousand dollars and buys her a new car. The case now
has six hundred and thirty-four plaintiffs and Kurt devises a new legal strategy. Feeling that
if they go to trial, PG&E could stretch out the matter with appeals for ten years or more, he
recommends that they agree to binding arbitration whereby the case is heard only by a
judge, whose decision is final and cannot be appealed. Erin reminds Ed that the residents
are expecting a trial, but he agrees with Kurt. Erin, who feels that Ed is pushing her out of
the case, has difficulties with Teresa, Kurt's prim, condescending co-counsel, but surprises
her with her knowledge of the plaintiffs' backgrounds. Kurt tells Ed that they must establish
that the PG&E head office knew that the water was bad prior to 1987 and did nothing about
it. In order to use the binding arbitration strategy, it is necessary that ninety percent of the
plaintiffs agree to it, so Ed addresses a meeting at the Hinkley community center and
eventually convinces almost everyone that this is their best chance to get money needed to
meet ongoing medical expenses. However, they are still about two hundred and fifty
signatures short, so Erin stays in a nearby motel and goes door-to-door, seeking the
additional signatures. She asks George to come there and look after the children and he
agrees. One night, after securing a bartender's signature, Erin is approached by Charles
Embry, whom she thinks is trying to pick her up, but Charles tells her that he used to work
at the plant and that his forty-one-year-old cousin has just died from cancer after working in
the water cooling towers. Charles tells Erin that he was assigned to destroy a lot of
documents, most of which were dull, but some of which were related to water readings in
holding pools and test wells. After getting information from the documents that Charles did
not destroy, Ed and Erin present Kurt with the necessary six hundred and thirty-four
signatures plus incriminating memos from the PG&E head office to the Hinkley plant. Later,
Erin and George return to Hinkley, and Erin takes him to meet Donna. Erin tells Donna the
news that the judge has ruled that PG&E will pay the plaintiffs three hundred and thirtythree million dollars. She then tells the overjoyed and relieved Jensens that they will receive
five million dollars. Back in the office, the still-contentious Erin is working on another case
when Ed gives her a bonus check, but warns her that the figure is not exactly what they
discussed. Erin is outraged that Ed is underestimating her value, but rendered speechless
when she sees that the check is for two million dollars.