08 Aug In the film, Jerome Facher played by Robert Duvall chats with Schlichmann outside the courtroom as the jury is considering how to rule on an early phase of the trial.
I’m working on a criminal justice writing question and need a sample draft to help me learn.
For this week’s discussion board you should share with the class your thoughts about the events that occurred in Woburn MA, as they are portrayed in the film A Civil Action and critiqued and evaluated by Jerome Facher, the lead attorney for Beatrice Foods, one of the defendants in this litigation. Some of the issues raised in these materials parallel the fictional account of civil litigation found in the novel The Appeal that was part of Lesson 4. As you read about the Woburn litigation, and watch the film version in A Civil Action, consider the following: Do the lawyers representing each side, Jan Schlichtmann for the plaintiffs and Facher for the defendants, Beatrice Foods, seem evenly matched both in terms of their resources, litigation skills and trial competencies? Do you detect power asymmetries between the two sides? Does it seem that the scientific and technological aspects of the litigation are beyond the ability of juries to understand?
In the film, Jerome Facher played by Robert Duvall chats with Schlichmann outside the courtroom as the jury is considering how to rule on an early phase of the trial. Schlichtmann is assuming that the court proceeding will help ascertain the truth about what happened in Woburn. Facher tells him that courts of law have nothing to do with finding the truth and he tells Schlichtmann that if he wants to find truth he should look for it at the bottom of a bottomless pit. Jerome Facher addresses this issue more thoroughly and directly in Section VI of his Seattle University article that is part of the assigned reading. Consider whether Facher just being cynical in his view of searching for truth in the civil litigation process or whether is he giving a realistic appraisal of whether an objective vision of truth is possible. Think about this dilemma as you post your comments on the discussion . Your comments should provide details from Facher’s article.
