I recently rewatched Steven Soderbergh’s film from 2000 Erin Brockovich and honestly, where do I even start? Julia Roberts is in full command not just through her presence in the film, but also with every word that comes out of her mouth. She has the tenacity and self-confidence that comes in handy as a lawyer when working on complex cases with thousands of documents. One of my favorite scenes is when she’s talking to Aaron Eckhart’s character, George. “How many numbers you got” says George to which Erin replies “I got numbers coming out of my ears, for instance, 10 which is how many months old my baby girl is… “¹ Feel free to use the link to watch the entire interaction because it’s a great example of powerful writing. As a viewer, you feel like you’re standing next to the two while Erin is rattling off numbers that correspond with significant life events or moments.

Before launching into my thoughts about how the film handles tort law, I want to take a minute and acknowledge the amazing Albert Finney (who plays Ed Masry). He is the perfect co-star to Julia Roberts, and their chemistry permeates throughout the entire film. Ok! Now that I’ve given my review of this, let’s talk about some torts.

You may be wondering to yourself “what in the world is a tort?” It is difficult to pin down a specific one-word answer, but the overall goal of torts is to make the plaintiff (the person bringing the suit) whole again. There are three main areas of Torts which are: intentional, negligent, and strict. While there is some crossover between criminal law and torts, they diverge when it comes to punishment. In torts, the cases are brought in civil court so there is no jail time associated with being found liable as opposed to being found guilty in criminal court. I recognize that this is a very short and brief overview of torts, but I hope the more I explain how Erin Brockovich handles the subject, the clearer it’ll become. This film focuses on PG&E poisoning the water in Hinkley, CA when the company told the residents that the water they were drinking was not harmful. However, as the movie progresses, Erin finds residents who developed cancer and other illness due to the contaminated drinking water.² Because this case was resolved through arbitration, much of the information is not available to the public, but we do know that PG&E either knew or should have known that chemicals would seep into the groundwater if there was no safety precaution in place. The case ultimately settled for $333 million and at the time, was the largest settlement in US history.

As a law student and movie lover, it’s hard to find films that are both accurate and enjoyable. “Erin Brockovich” is both. For example, Ed Masry talks about how expensive this case  could get between the costs of expert witnesses and the overall  price of litigation).I had a professor tell me that he would quote clients, who were thinking about going to trial, in the $4-5 million range. Expert witnesses are incredibly expensive and according to the Expert Institute these costs can range from $356 an hour to review a case to $478 an hour during trial.³  Since Ed works on a contingency fee (common in personal injury and toxic tort cases), this means that if he loses the case then, he will not get any money for all the work he did. Again, the film does a great job at exploring the dichotomy between an attorney receiving 40% of a settlement and an injured client. Lastly, the scene where Erin goes to the water board office is fascinating to watch. Not just because of the writing in the scene, but because this shows the lengths that paralegals/attorney’s go to find the “smoking gun” or series of faults that can be traced back to the defendant. In my opinion, the film accurately portrays the difficulties of working in this type of law that continues to lead to lawsuits.

Closing thoughts: I am hopeful that companies will learn that protecting consumers and making money are mutually inclusive.

Thoughts, comments, concerns? Let me know!

4 favorite films: Social Network, Memories of Murder, The Player, Erin Brockovich

*All opinions are my own and not reflective of any school or club association*

Citations:
1. (Erin Brockovich, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ENnpWM-f9dM)

2. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/toxic_tort

3. (https://www.expertinstitute.com/resources/expert-witness-fees/)