Chapter 58 Section 8

Gerald Fischer usually has thirty or forty cases going hand in hand, and he also has a number of regular clients of large companies, among which the Beeches Group is the largest and richest.However, this time, Gero did not take the Woburn case seriously.He had heard of several such claims for injuries related to environmental pollution. At first they were huge and eye-catching, because they were all trendy cases that had just emerged in recent years, and they were very popular with reporters. But they are all anticlimactic, let it go. However, since the indictment has been sent, it cannot be ignored.Gero sent one of the firm's young lawyers, his former Harvard student Neil Jacobs, "on a trip" to the J. J. Riller Tannery in Woburn.When Neil came back, he drafted a response to the indictment, and Jerome Fischer read it over and it was OK.

Representing the other defendant, W. R. Glass & Co., was William Cheeseman, a senior attorney at the Boston law firm of Frey Hogel Elio.Unlike Gerald Fischer, William was immediately aware of the seriousness of the problem, because one of W. R. Glass' top management demanded that "the whole company must take this case seriously from top to bottom."The company's headquarters in New York issued an open letter the day after receiving the court notice, "strongly condemning" the "irresponsible and unfair" allegations against them in the indictment. In fact, W. R. Glass is not the first time involved in similar disputes.A little over a year ago, another small town of Acton, Massachusetts, sued W. R. Glass for polluting their groundwater, but a lawsuit involving the lives of five children is a different matter entirely.Moreover, the Warburn case attracted widespread media interest from the outset.In the second week after Jane went to the court to submit the indictment, the "Boston Globe" reported it.Immediately afterwards, two local TV stations sent reporters to the Reed-Mulrigan law firm to interview Jane Hilleman.For a Fortune 500 company like W·R·Glass, the really terrible thing is that those shocking and highly inflammatory headlines are enough to make the case a scandal.

William Cheeseman's first impulse when confronted with the Woburn case was to nip this nasty case in its infancy.This was William's forte and his reputation at the firm.Only four of William's cases have made it to court so far, because he's always been clever enough to force the plaintiffs to drop their case. William soon learned that W. R. Glass's food machinery factory in Woburn was founded in 1960 and currently has more than 100 employees.The plant's food-packing machinery—machines that wrap all kinds of meat in plastic wrap—is used only at a handful of meatpacking plants inside W.R. Glass.

In the early 1960s, the Food Machinery Factory ordered a barrel of 55 gallons, 250 liters of TCE, for manual wiping of smaller metal parts.Some of the workers may have spilled the used solvent on the open space behind the factory building, at most one teacup at a time.According to the technicians at the factory, it is impossible for such discharges to contaminate two wells half a mile away. Among the documents W. R. Glass sent to William, there is also a videotape of Jane Hilleman being interviewed by reporters.On the screen, Jane stared straight at the camera, and said forcefully: "First of all, we ask these companies to give reasonable compensation to patients and their families, ask them to stop discharging chemical waste, and ask them to treat the pollution that has already been caused. pollution.” Jane also said that there is evidence that W. R. Glass’s food machinery factory has been discharging chemical waste liquid without any treatment for more than 20 years since its establishment.

William Cheeseman couldn't help thinking about it. He felt that this young man named Jane Hilleman was really immature, his speech and behavior were not professional at all, and he was not a lawyer at all. The panache it deserves.William thought, what if I give this kid a run for his money?Let him know how to deal with a big company like W. R. Glass.William then wrote an aggressive letter to Jane and Anthony: "You'd better withdraw the lawsuit now, otherwise we will take the necessary measures to urge the relevant parties to dismiss the case. And once we take action, you will not only have to pay For all of our expenses, we also have to pay attorneys on our rates."

The letter was sent out, but the plaintiff has never heard back, and the court has not given notice of withdrawal.William Cheeseman waited until October for a 52-page questionnaire from Jane Hilleman.Hundreds of questions covered all aspects of the food machinery factory, from internal systems to operating procedures. Not only did the defendant's lawyers be required to answer within 30 days, but all answers must be bound by an oath.In other words, if there is any discrepancy with the facts, you will bear legal responsibility. Of course William Cheeseman had no intention of answering such a stupid questionnaire.He proceeded step by step to implement the second step plan that had been conceived, "taking necessary measures" - counter-prosecution.In his "Motion to Dismiss the Warburn Case," William wrote: "All allegations are baseless. . . . There is no any connection between the pollutants in the water and the two companies as defendants.” First, there is no evidence in the medical and scientific literature that TCE or other pollutants in tap water could cause leukemia, which is reported in the National Institutes of Disease Both reports from the Center for Prevention and Control and the EPA make clear statements.Second, the National Environmental Protection Agency's investigation report did not list W·R·Glass and the Beeches Group as sources of pollutants.If the two authoritative state agencies are still inconclusive, where do the conclusions of Jane Hilleman and Anthony Rothman come from in the indictment?

The legal basis for William Cheeseman's motion is Section 11 of the Civil Procedure Regulations, which requires the elimination of "frivolous and irresponsible litigation", which refers to insufficient evidence. .Therefore, in the industry, this kind of motion is generally called "Section 11 motion". After writing, William Cheeseman called Neil Jacobs of Howler-Durr LLP and asked him to pass on the motion to Gerald Fischer.In William's view, since W. R. Glass and Beechose Group are joint defendants, they should exchange as much information as possible and cooperate with each other.Moreover, William had already heard about Gero's reputation, and having such an ally undoubtedly increased his chances of winning.