Chapter 65 Section 15

This report gave Jane an idea. He invited private detectives to visit the residents near the leather factory door to door, but found almost nothing in a few months. J. J. Riller Tannery is worthy of being a century-old factory run by Riller's family for three generations. It is deeply rooted in Woburn, and its roots are intertwined. It looks like a local snake.Not only all the workers in the factory kept silent and never said anything unfavorable to the boss, but also the people around them couldn't explain why. After a lot of busy work, Jane only got one clue that had been disconnected.Years ago, there was a Barnor company adjacent to the tannery that specialized in recycling various industrial packaging materials, including 55-gallon chemical drums.Behind the Barnaul company is the 15 hectares of vacant land of the tannery, and the two are sometimes separated from each other.Jack Riller said that the rusty iron barrels that Jane saw were left by the Barnol Company.An employee of the company at the time told Jane that the boss, Waitely Barnaul, had asked them to pour the residual pesticides in the barrels directly into the drainage ditch leading to the Apojona River, and put some "unknown" poisonous Liquid spilled on the ground.The employee also said that Barnes & Noble also scrubs the metal packaging with TCE before repainting it.But Waitely Barnor had been dead for many years, and the Barnor Company had long since ceased to exist.

From a legal point of view, no matter who "concretely" pollutes that vacant land, the Beeches Group must be responsible for everything that happens on the land under its name.But Jane also knew that it would be difficult to convince a jury without solid evidence that J. J. Riller Tannery had done it himself. The first doctor Jane Hilleman hired heavily for the Hachinohe plaintiffs was Dr. Shirley Conibel, an environmental and occupational disease specialist from Chicago.The results of the physical examination showed that the health conditions of all the family members of the patients were surprisingly similar. All 28 people had symptoms of chronic chemical poisoning such as stomach pain, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, sore throat, rash, and dizziness.

The second is Saul Cohen, a cardiologist at Boston University School of Medicine. He spent six weeks examining all 11 adults and three high school students among the plaintiffs, and found that all 14 were without exception. Suffering from arrhythmia, a typical symptom of TCE.Dr. Cohen wrote in his report: "The results of the examination are a shock to me." According to the examination results of Robert Feldman, director of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, most of the family members of the patients suffered from varying degrees of motor nervous system dysfunction, amnesia and depression.

Jane also brought in an experienced biochemist from Oakland Children's Hospital in California, Dr. Bauville Pakin, who had participated in several EPA-sponsored water pollution investigations.After sampling and analyzing the air in eight households, Dr. Peijin concluded that when people use hot water, such as a shower, the TCE in the water evaporates with the heat, making the TCE content in the air higher than in the water. Two to three times.A toxicologist at the University of California, Berkeley, found that TCE may also infiltrate through the skin, which is the direct cause of rashes in all patients.To sum up, there are three channels for TCE to enter the human body. In addition to drinking water, there are breathing and pore absorption.

At this point, Jane believes that there is sufficient evidence to prove that the contaminated tap water has caused chronic chemical poisoning of the local residents.Even if it is unlikely that TCE directly induces leukemia, it will at least make the disease worse.And the most crucial point is indisputable: If W. R. Glass's Food Machinery Factory and J. J. Riller's Leather Factory under the Beeches Group did not pollute the groundwater, those children would Not dying in vain like this. Jian En hired as many as 12 medical experts successively, enough to equip a small hospital, and the total bill was also astonishing.By September 1985, Hillelman, Conway, and Knolly had spent more than $1 million in the Woburn case.Four years ago, Kevin Conway predicted that the Woburn case was a "bottomless black hole". Now it seems that he was unfortunately right.

Jane thought of Uncle Beeter of the Bank of Boston again, but he never went alone to apply for a loan. Every time he had to pull Kevin and their accountant, James Gordon. In Jane En's eyes, James is simply a digital genius.Their relationship can be traced back to the "Pipe Arrow" wreck.At that time, the insurance company agreed at the negotiating table to pay compensation according to the maximum insured amount.They gave Jane a very complicated 40-year installment plan, said to be worth $1.5 million.Jane didn't know anything about it. He didn't even know what was in his check book, so he handed the check to James.Zhan Meng tapped on the keyboard and calculated that the insurance company actually only paid 330,000 yuan, and the rest was the interest generated from the principal.Since then, Jane has invited James to attend every mediation negotiation, and Kevin has to discuss with James before taking over every case.

When Jane was short of money, she went to Uncle Pitt more than once, and sometimes brought the deed of the house and car.Uncle Pitt always wants to criticize Jane's bad habit of spending money like water.When meeting Uncle Pitt with a pleasant face, Jian En would repeat his financial management philosophy of "money is a bastard, earn after you spend it" as usual.Then, Uncle Pitt always pushed aside the house deed and car deed, saying that I don't need these things, and I will lend them one hundred and eighty thousand with a flick of a pen. But this time, Uncle Bit really made a fool of himself, saying that let's not talk about the loan first, but settle the old accounts before we talk about it.

"The total is 200,000 U.S. dollars." Uncle Bit handed the final figure in front of the three people, "The first installment of the United First Uniform Factory's compensation should be enough." Zhan Meng promised Uncle Bit, and waited for the United First Uniform The factory repays the debt as soon as the down payment arrives. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhan Meng said nonchalantly, "It's spent." Uncle Bit later recalled this episode to others, saying that he was so angry that he wished he could tear off the three heads on the opposite desk one by one, but he caught a glimpse of Jane starting to repeat his old tricks, one by one going out. Take out his house deed and car deed.Uncle Beetle said, "Wait, where did it go?"