Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich Film Report

1. Briefly summarize the plot, explaining the main points of the story and naming the major characters, companies, etc.

Erin is a mother of 3 children and has been divorced twice. She is out of work and money. She was struggling to find a job and got into a car accident. She decided to sue the driver of the other car for her injuries. Erin lost the case in court mainly because of her language and unprofessional actions. Erin repeatedly tried to contact her lawyer Mr. Masry and he refused to return her calls. She then went to his office and acted like she worked for him. She demanded a job and he gave her one just to keep her quiet because she was making a scene. He then gave her a job to do with a real estate deal. She wasn't sure how to handle it or what she was doing, so she started researching it out of the office and came up with some interesting information.

There were blood reports and other medical information in the real estate file. She went to the Jensen house and spoke with the woman whom Pacific Gas and Electric was buying the property from. She told Erin that they were paying her and her families medical bills and they were buying the property because there was a freeway coming in and the property was needed for the exit ramp. The Jensen family was all ill with cancer and other diseases. Erin felt this was strange that PG & E was paying their medical bills and checked into it a little more. After going to the water board and checking old records, she found out that the PG & E plant was contaminating their water with chromium 6. She then found that PG & E held a seminar for about 200 people in the area to tell them about the chromium that was in the water and they said it was chromium 3 and it was good for them when really it was chromium 6. Chromium 6 is very toxic and can cause many diseases and health problems. So, the reason PG & E was paying for their doctor bills was so that they could choose the doctor that would tell the Jensen's that their medical problems had nothing to do with the water.

Erin then began to check into other people in that area and found them with health problems also. She and Mr. Masry were working on a case to get some compensation for these people. It was past the one year time frame that the people had to sue over the chromium after being notified that it was in the water, so the only thing they could get was more money for their property and some for pain and suffering. Erin had over 600 plaintiffs that would testify. She also found someone that had worked at PG & E that was suppose to shred some old readings from test wells and other memos for proof. This case was getting too large and expensive for the firm to handle alone, so Mr. Masry partnered up with another lawyer. This other lawyer and assistant didn't get along with Erin because of her style, but she proved different and got all the information needed to win the case for the people.

2. List and describe the major ethical conflicts in this film.

The major ethical conflict was that PG & E knew that they were contaminating the water in Hinkely and were still running the plant. They were hiding and destroying evidence of water tests and paying doctors to say that the diseases that people were getting were not from the Chromium in the water.

Another ethical conflict was when Mr. Masry was going to throw in the towel and not pursue the case because it was getting too large and costly. This is unethical because he knew that what PG & E was doing was very wrong.

3. Explain (in detail) the major environmental issue explored in this film i.e. what and how is happening, who is perpetrating it, and how it is addressed in the film, as well as the place in the story where the film ends.

PG & E was contaminating the water in Hinkely with chromium 6. This is a toxic chemical that is proven to lead to major health problems. In the 1960s the company had water testing done and it was proven positive for this chemical. There was also a memo that was spread to employees that said not to mention this to the outside. So, for years this chemical has been affecting the employees and the residents of the city without them knowing it. PG & E was trying to buy people's houses that were highly infected with this chemical and telling them it was for other reasons. They also covered it up by choosing a doctor for these people to see and also paying their bills. Erin and Mr. Masry had to prove that Corporate PG & E had no knowledge that any of this was going on. They got ahold of water reports from the Hinkely County Water board and also in-house documents from an employee of PG & E. With these documents and also the signed testimonies from over 600 victims, they were able to win the case by receiving over $333 million in damages.

4. Given what we see in the beginning of this film about Erin, why is Erin's eventual success in this story so surprising? What does Erin's personal style have to do with peoples' initial impression of her?

Erin has a much unpolished style. She talks dirty and dresses provocatively. In the beginning of the film, she had an automobile injury and sued the person to get money because she was out of work and couldn't find a job. Because of this attitude, she seemed as though she was out to make an easy buck, but she worked very hard and was very motivated to this case. When people first saw her, she didn't look as though she was working for a law firm. I think this made her more approachable to the normal person. Men especially were willing to help her out because of the way she looked. Although in the office, the other woman that she was working with felt intimidated by her and didn't include her in things. They also were not willing to help her when she needed it.

5. Erin still adopts what some people would think of as a "provocative" dress style in her legal work. Explain, from an intellectual viewpoint, how it could work either for or against her.

In the film, it worked for her in the aspect that some people were more preoccupied with how she dressed and how she looked that they would let her do anything she wanted. Because she looked like that, she wasn't a real threat as the man at the Hinkley Water board showed. Also, the people of Hinkely were open to her and sharing their stories with her because she seemed more down to earth and caring instead of when Teresa went to their homes in her suit and was "all business". This also could work against her. When not