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A Civil Action Chapter Summary Environmental Law

Boston: July 1986

Lawyer Jan Schlichtmann awoke to the telephone ringing. He remembered his dream
about a juror in the case he has, and in his dream he was pointing out the direction that she and
the other jurors should take. He felt that this dream was significant and felt a sense of
foreboding when he woke up. The caller was an officer at the Baybank South Shore.
Schlichtmann owed money to the bank by way of an auto loan of his Porsche, his arrears
amounting to $9,203.00 for several months of non-payment. He tells the caller to contact James
Gordon who handles his financial affairs and hangs up. Twenty minutes later he receives
another phone call. This time its from a Suffolk County Sheriff who is at a pay phone two
blocks away from Schlichtmanns building, and the sheriff has come to repossess the car. He
wants Schlichtmann to point out the car to him and Schlichtmann agrees.
The Porsche 928 has been in Schlichtmanns possession for two years. The insurance has
lapsed already, and James Gordon has warned Schlichtmanns girlfriend from driving it.
Schlichtmann brings the car from where it was parked. The sheriff gives him documents
regarding the repossession and removes Schlichtmanns law books and transcripts from the back
of the Porsche, putting these in a garbage bag. He sees Anne Andersons name on the transcripts
and asks Schlichtmann about it. Schlichtmann says hes involved in the case and the sheriff
wishes him luck before he drives off.
Two days later Schlichtmann goes to the Boston downtown courthouse. He has no
money so he walks. He is dressed impeccably, wearing his favorite hand-tailored suit, Bally
shoes and an Hermes tie he considers lucky. On his way to the courthouse, a homeless person
with his belongings in a green plastic garbage bag asks him for money. Schlichtmann says he
has none.
He reflects on the instability of his life. He is almost homeless since he hasnt been
paying his maintenance dues on his condominium unit and a case has been filed against him; he
has arrears on his mortgage payments; American Express had filed a suit against his firm
Schlichtmann, Conway & Crowley; and there had been no payment on his credit card for a
twenty five thousand dollar debt. But Schlichtmann did not care about money. He was more
concerned that if he lost this case, this one case, he would lose something far more than money.
He had a vision of himself sitting on a park bench, his expensive suits inside his own green
plastic garbage bags.
The courtroom corridor is Schlichtmanns preferred place. He would usually stand near a
bench sitting right across Judge Walter J. Skinners office. At the end is Judge Skinners office.
The corridor had dim lighting and smelled of disinfectant and stale cigarette smoke. At eight
oclock the jurors begin to arrive. They talk amongst themselves but quiet down when they
approach him. They set off to the end of the corridor, to a small room up the stairs where they
conduct their deliberations. Schlichtmann studies them, trying to guess their moods. When they
disappear from his view, he is alone once again.

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