A Civil Action (73 page)

Defalque, Ray J. “Pharmacology and Toxicology of Trichloroethylene: A Critical Review of the World Literature.”
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
, September–October 1961.

Feldman, R. G.; Mayer, R. M.; and Taub, A. “Evidence for Peripheral Neurotoxic Effect of Trichloroethylene.”
Neurology
, June 1970.

Feldman, Robert G. “Trichloroethylene.”
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Feldman, Robert G.; Chirico-Post, Jeanette; and Proctor, Susan P. “Blink Reflex Latency after Exposure to Trichloroethylene in Well Water.”
Archives of Environmental Health
, March–April 1988.

Feldman, Robert G., et al. “Long-Term Follow-Up After Single Toxic Exposure to Trichloroethylene.”
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________. “Neurotoxic Effects of Trichloroethylene in Drinking Water.”

Chapter 1 in
The Vulnerable Brain and Environmental Risks
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The following books and articles all proved helpful on issues of the law. I spent a great deal of time learning about the history of tort law and personal injury lawyers, although in the end little of this research made its way into the narrative. Nonetheless, I believe it served me usefully as background. On the subject of legal history I especially commend the excellent volumes by Lawrence Friedman and Edward White.

Calabresi, Guido.
The Cost of Accidents: A Legal and Economic Analysis
. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.

Cockrill, Ashley. “The Shyster Lawyer.”
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Countryman, Vern A.; Finman, Ted; and Schneyer, Theodore J.
The Lawyer in Modern Society
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Danzon, Patricia M.
Medical Malpractice: Theory, Evidence, and Public Policy
. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985.

Friedman, Lawrence M.
A History of American Law
. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
The Common Law
. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1963.

Horowitz, Morton J.
The Transformation of American Law
. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977.

Huber, Peter W.
Galileo’s Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom
. New York: Basic Books, 1991.

Mauet, Thomas A.
Fundamentals of Trial Technique
. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980.

Rosenberg, David. “The Causal Connection in Mass Exposure Cases: A ‘Public Law’ Vision of the Tort System.”
Harvard Law Review
, February 1984.

Silverman, Robert A.
Law and Urban Growth: Civil Litigation in the Boston Trial Courts, 1880–1900
. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981.

Smith, L. G. “Evolution of the Ambulance Chaser.”
The Green Bag
. 14:264, 1902.

[Various Authors] “Developments in the Law: Toxic Waste Litigation.”
Harvard Law Review
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White, G. Edward.
Tort Law in America: An Intellectual History
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Acknowledgments

This book could not have been written without the assistance of many of the people who appear in it. My heartfelt thanks to the Woburn families, to Reverend Bruce Young, and especially to Donna Robbins, who acted as my guide while I was in Woburn.

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Jan Schlichtmann, who opened his life to me and always made himself available to answer my questions. Kevin Conway and Mark Phillips were my first tutors when I began reporting on the case. James Gordon, Teresa Padro, Rikki Klieman, Bill Crowley, Tom Kiley, Charles Nesson, Fern Nesson, Tom Neville, Pete Briggs, Andy Lord, John Drobinski, George Pinder, Anthony Roisman, Arthur Licata, Paul Schneider, and Julianna Hallowell all helped in many ways. So, too, did Claudia Barragan, who is now Jan Schlichtmann’s wife, and his mother, Bea. The office staff at Schlichtmann, Conway & Crowley—among them Kathy Boyer, Peggy Vecchione, Patti D’Addieco, Susan Denehy, Sharon Hollis, Rick Conway, Ron Homer, Mary Zoza, Sylvia Chin-Caplan, and Stan Eller—all treated me kindly and with patience.

As I’ve already noted, Jerry Facher gave generously of his time. At Hale and Dorr, Neil Jacobs, Don Frederico, and Stan Greenidge also made themselves available for interviews.

In addition to Bill Cheeseman, who tolerated many phone calls from me, Michael Keating found time for several interviews and also went over his detailed notes of the settlement conferences with me. Also at Foley, Hoag & Eliot, Sandra Lynch, Marc Temin, and James K. Brown made themselves available for interviews.

Among the jurors, Jean Coulsey and William Vogel were especially helpful.

•     •     •

I wouldn’t have begun this book were it not for Tracy Kidder’s suggestion, and I wouldn’t have finished it without his help. He devoted countless hours to reading drafts, making suggestions, and helping me find my way through what at the time seemed impenetrable thickets. He did more than one can reasonably expect of a friend.

Several friends who also happen to be lawyers took time to read and comment on a late draft of the book. William Newman’s many suggestions were especially helpful, and so, too, was the advice of Laura Undercuffler and Ed Etheredge. Dr. Sam Topal, who seems to be there when I need him most, and his wife, Cathy, also offered good advice on a late draft. Dr. Arthur Grant read the section on neurology and spared me several embarrassments. Marshall Shalk, a neighbor who was also a legendary professor of geology at Smith College, died this year, and I never got the chance to thank him adequately for his reading of several sections concerning geology and groundwater. My thanks also to my father, Jack Harr, for his advice on an early draft, and to Thatcher Freund, Richard Todd, Susan Barron, Andy Houlding, Gary Neilson, Barry Werth, and Robert Lescher.

My wife, Diane, put up with this project as it dragged on year after year. She read every one of the many drafts, and her unflagging support and encouragement saw me through each successive one.

Finally, I owe a great debt to Robert Loomis, my editor at Random House. If he felt dismay at seeing a 1,500-page first draft, he managed not to show it. He gave me more of his time than I had a right to expect, and he never gave up on this book, even years after it was supposed to be finished.

About the Author

J
ONATHAN
H
ARR
lives and works in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he has taught nonfiction writing at Smith College. He is a former staff writer at
New England Monthly
and has also written for
The New York Times Magazine
and
The New Yorker
. He has won several writing and reporting awards, among them the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award.