Read Online A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr - Free Book Online Page A

thinks.”
    Donna raised the subject with Reverend Young the next day. The idea intrigued the minister. He thought a lawyer might help them get some answers. He told Donna he’d be happy to meet with Mulligan and explain the circumstances in Woburn.
    Donna called Joe Mulligan. The lawyer expressed interest in meeting with Young and seeing if there was indeed a case. Although nothing had yet come of the case concerning Robbie’s hip, Donna still had faith in Mulligan. He had always treated her kindly. He still assured her periodically that Robbie’s case was developing, and she believed him.
    The following week Mulligan drove out to Woburn in his white Cadillac, and Donna greeted him at the back door of the church. She escorted him through the hallway cluttered with the Trinity Thrift Shop’s wares, the piles of old clothes, the chipped dishware and battered toys. Bruce Young’s small, dark office was almost as cluttered as the hallway, and Mulligan seemed to fill all the space.
    Reverend Young unfolded the map with the leukemia cases and showed it to Mulligan. He explained how he and Anne had put the map together, told him about his visit to Truman’s office, and described the way the city officials had reacted. “The odds of a cluster like this occurring by chance,” the minister told Mulligan, “are on the order of a hundred to one.”
    Mulligan seemed impressed. Twelve children with leukemia—eight of them within a half-mile radius, six of them living almost next door to each other—and contaminated drinking water. It was, in legal terms, as Mulligan later said, “almost res ipsa loquitur ”—the thing speaks for itself. There was, however, Mulligan pointed out, one significant problem: Who was to blame for the TCE in the wells? Reverend Young replied that the Environmental Protection Agency had just begun an investigation. Once the agency completed its report, they’d know the source. Mulligan suggested that he meet with the families. Reverend Young agreed to make the arrangements. And Mulligan departed, carrying a file of newspaper clippings that the minister had collected.
    Since Anne knew most of the families, Reverend Young gave her the job of calling them to meet with the lawyer. The task made Anne uncomfortable. She wasn’t certain how some of the people might reactto the idea of hiring a lawyer. She wrote down what she wanted to say and rehearsed it a few times: “We thought it might be a good idea to meet with an attorney to see what the possibilities are.”
    One woman whose son had died recently said coldly, “That was never on my mind.” The woman’s tone seemed to accuse Anne of attempting to turn a child’s terrible misfortune into profit. And a few families whose children were doing well in treatment declined the invitation. Anne thought perhaps they were superstitiously afraid, as if going to the law would cause their children to have relapses. But most of the families with leukemia in their households seemed interested.
    The meeting with Mulligan took place late in August at the church. Mulligan introduced himself and talked a little about his firm and the sort of cases he had handled. For the most part he listened to the families tell their stories. The big question was whom to blame for the contamination of Wells G and H. Most people thought the old Woburn tanneries were probably responsible. One person suggested they could sue the city or the state. Certainly the city had been warned, time and again, about the water quality, yet the officials had paid no heed. Another man, the owner of a supermarket in town whose daughter had died two years earlier, vehemently opposed that idea. He feared his customers would disapprove of a lawsuit against the city, especially if it resulted in raising taxes to pay the cost of a judgment.
    Someone asked Mulligan how much they would have to pay for his services. Mulligan explained that they would sign a standard contingency fee contract, which would