TORTS THIRD INTERNAL

MOVIE REVIEW: ERIN BROCKOVICK

Name: Istuvi Sonkar

Course: BALLB
Division: A
PRN: 17010125046
Subject: Torts
INTRODUCTION:
The movie “Erin Brockovich brings a number of moral issues to light through the
perspective of Erin Brockovich herself. This movie is based on a True story. The
movie describes the life of Erin Brockovich who is a struggling single mother. She
has been divorced twice and has three little children. She gets a job at a law firm soon
she discovers something strange in a small town a local water plant has been
poisoning the area water’s and all the town’s residents have diseases’s. According, to
movie, for 14 years the Pacific Gas and Electric Company had been dumping water
containing chromium six into pounds without covering then so the water leaked into
the local water supply exposing threat to that locality. Symptoms of this Substance are
very hazardous causing headache, cancer, respiratory failure, and liver failure etc and
diseases can be passed onto children. It’s how big company like these focuses more
on profitmaking than human life.

THEME:

In, the very beginning of movie it is shown that how Erin had an accident and so she
went to law office to file a suit against the driver. But she lost the case. After, this she
joins a legal firm the very same place where she went to file a suit. Erina’s office
work leads to her to Pacific Gas and electric trying to purchase the jensen’s property
who dwells at that place. Later, she found in investigation that Jensen’s family was
suffering from various medical problems, which was due to chromium six in their
water supply. Mrs. Jensen told that a doctor visited her family to give medication and
health advice who was actually bribed by Pacific Gas and Electric. Doctor stated that
this physical problem has nothing to do with that substance. Even the company
assured that the water is safe. Finding medical records among the information in this
real estate file provokes Erina’s investigation into case.

As per Erina’s investigation she found that the Pacific Gas and Electric Company,
which is a very big company and had documents from the starting since 1966 that
water samples contained chromium six. She asked for reports to the company but they
were not much cooperative with her. The water company provided the information to
the Pacific Gas. Meanwhile, Pacific Gas and Electric has told the residents’
beforehead that they were using “safe chromium o prevent corrosion when water is
used to cool down the machines used in the factory. The company did a serious crime
with people’s life and presented how cruel a human can be towards the work and
forget that above everything humanity comes and one must preserve it.

ANALYSIS:

The very first offer in the case was after Masry Faxes the first of his claims to the
Pacific Gas and Legal department. The company sends a lawyer to make an offer on
the Jensen’s Property near the Pacific Gas and Electric plant in Hinkley. The
Corporation offers the Jensen’s $250,000 the Jensen’s learn Donna’s cancer is
malignant. PG&E lawyer offer Hinkley residents $20 million to settle out to court.
Erin is enraged and tells them off. Erin and Ed joins hands with Kurt Potter as they
believe Potter’s expertise his water contamination and chemical related cases make
him a very strong person. He reveals that PG&E Court denies any knowledge of the
activities of its plant in Hinkley and so on the basis they can deny the compensation.
Rsearching further, Erin visited more Hinkley residents and found similar cases of
tumors and other health problems. Donna’s claim for indemnity from PG&E evolved
into huge class suit, Involving around 600 residents of Hinkley as plaintiffs whom
Erin persuaded to pursue the company, In the course of their, a man, one night,
approached Erin and introduced himself as an employee of PG&E, together with his
cousin who died from a poison. He revealed that he was tasked to destroy PG&E
documents but he did not instead, he gave the documents to Erin, which would prove
that the company’s hesdquarters knew all the time that the groundwater in Hinkley
was contaminated with hexavalent chromium but did nothing about it. Finally, with
this gripping evidence Erin Brockovich and Edward Masry manage to win a record
out of court settlement of us $330 million for the victims of this tragic incident.

Even in Indian cases, Like related to environmental dispute as a civil wrong one of
the very famous case In M.C. Mehta v. Union of India,1The supreme court was
dealing with claims arising from the leakage of oleum gas from one of the units of
Shriram Foods and Fertilizers Industries, in the city of Delhi, belonging to Delhi

1 A.I.R 1987 S.C. 1086: 1987 ACJ 386

Cloth Mills Ltd. As a consequence of this leakage, it was alleged that one advocate
practicing in the Tis Hazari Court had died and the same affected several others. The
action was brought through a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution by way
of public litigation. The court had in mind that within a period of one year, this was a
second case of large scale leakage of deadly gas in India as a year earlier due to
leakage of MIC gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal2, more than 3,000
persons had died and lacs of others were subjected to serious diseases of various kind.

CONCLUSION:
The movie raises strong issue on feminism that how a single parent-woman with three
little children tries to survive her life and working hard to overcome every obstacle of
her life. It also lights the ethical issues that how selflessness and self-interest are
perfectly accordant. I, believe that it teaches us not to give up pn our problems and
always work hard and do not make assumptions about people on the basis of
appreances, These are reflected in Erin’s personality that how dedicated she is
towards her profession. And believes in helping and taking intitative for all the
innocent lives.

2 Union Carbide Corporation v. Union of India A.I.R 192 S.C. 248