EOC Week 2: Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich who had no education in the law did some deep investigating on PG & E for leaking toxic Chromium 6 into the ground water of the community Hinkley. They had been poisoning the small town for over 30 years. PG & E came up with plenty of offers to try to settle the lawsuit against them but Brockovich laughed at them and didn’t accept. "In 1996, as a result of the largest direct action lawsuit of its kind, spear-headed by Erin and Ed Masry, the utility giant was forced to pay out the largest toxic tort injury settlement in US history: $333 million in damages to more than 600 Hinkley residents." http://www.brockovich.com/mystory.html "The lawyers received forty percent, which was a little over $133 million. As in the film, attorney Ed Masry rewarded Erin Brockovich with a $2 million bonus." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/faq I think it was quite intelligent how she used her sex appeal and street knowledge to help with leads on the case. It wasn’t about the money to her it was about helping the people who were sick and the children dying from that contaminated water. "Not all of the victims were happy with the amount of money that they were given. After being billed an extra $10 million for undetailed expenses and having to wait nearly six months after the $333 million had been deposited by PG&E, many of the victims were unhappy with the sum of money that they had been rewarded. The lawyers determined this sum confidentially by various factors, including the severity of their ailments. On average, this came to $300,000 per victim, as stated previously." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/faq I believe the outcome for the people was a good turn out being that if it wasn’t for Brockovich investigating there may not have even been such a case like it was. I do agree with the Lawyer takes a chunk of the deal, but at the end of the day we all work to make money.