Dulay, Pneet

April 13th, 2023

Period 1
Erin Brockovich

The film “Erin Brockovich” (2000) revolve around the themes

of making the impossible, the possible and how one should never give
up on something they believe in, no matter how difficult it may get.
“Erin Brockovich” (2000) also portrays a strong message to the
viewers, an insight of the strength it takes for a woman to rise in a
man’s world.

“Erin Brockovich” (2000) is set in the small town of Hinkley,

California during the 1990s. The film follows the determined character
as she takes upon a life changing yet low-payment job, as a law clerk to
her former lawyer, Ed Masry. Brockovich does this in order to finally
end her jobless era and support herself and 3 of her kids, and pay her
debts after losing a lawsuit against a doctor who she had gotten to an
accident with. Erin Brockovich comes across interesting files that
include medical records, while she was filling paperwork, which leaves
her confused. Her confusion and curiosity leads her to investigate the
case further on her own. While investigating, Brockovich finds that the
soon-to-be defendant, a company by the name Pacific Gas and Electric
(PG&E), has been responsible for contaminating the groundwater with
chemicals such as hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium 6,
and the people of the town have no idea of the side effects and have been told that the water is filled with
chromium 3, which is good for their health. Brockovich also comes to find that these toxicants of
chromium 6 are causing residents of the town of Hinkley, also the soon-to-be plaintiffs, to become
severely sick with the following; “breast cysts, uterine cancer, Hodgekin’s disease, immune deficiencies,
asthma [and] chronic nosebleeds.” (Soderbergh, 2000, 51:30). To add on, the company did not report their
contamination to the local water board for years even after knowing that it will cause problems to human
health. Brockovich takes matters into her own hands and after some conflict gets Ed Masery to take on the
case. Her hard work and determination wins the trust of the Hinkley Residents and gives them courage to
finally take legal action and sue the company for contaminating their water, lying to them, which later
caused illnesses that are deadly. Unfortunately, there were personal challenges for both Erin and Ed.
During the research and preparation portion of the case, Brockovich tended to become very distant from
her boyfriend named George, and her 3 kids, Matthew, Katie and Beth. Although, they were very
supportive of her taking the new job, they seemed to hold grudges sometimes, causing conflict between
Brockovich and her family. Brockovich also faces challenges in the workplace, where she is constantly
challenged to prove herself serious about her job. Brockovich faces these challenges due to her choice of
clothing, and is many times commented on her clothes by Ed Masry. During the beginning of the film, it
is also seen that Brockovich wasn’t being taken seriously about her determination around the case, an
example of this is seen when she was fired by Ed Masry due to her absence while she was investigating
the case, and when she asks why she was fired, he replies with “I don't know. You look like someone
who likes to have fun”. On the other hand, Ed was having more of work related challenges. He was
struggling and finding difficulty financially because he couldn’t take on the case, since it was a lot larger
than other cases his small law firm had ever taken, leading him to the decision of getting a partner.
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Brockovich and Masry also had many arguments as they couldn’t always agree on the same things, for
example, when Brockovich learned about Masry getting a partner in the case, she got furious and yelled
“Of course he wouldn’t hesitate [to partner] now. We did all the [beep] work!” (Soderbergh, 2000,
1:31:56) But despite all of these arguments, Brockovich and Masry learned to stick together and create
solutions to their problems. In the end, by demonstrating teamwork, they claimed success in getting their
clients, the 634 residents of the town of Hinkley, $333 million in total from the defendant as the
defendants, PG&E Corporate, was found guilty of knowing the presence of contamination due to
Chromium 6 in the groundwaters of Hinkley, and for that, PG&E Corporate settled for $333 million.
(Kacala, 2020; PG&E, n.d.; Shannon, 2019; Soderbergh, 2000;)

The case taken by Masry and Brockovich both in the film and in real life is known as a class action
lawsuit. A class action lawsuit is where one or just a small group of plaintiff (s), which represent a larger
group of plaintiffs, (who may have been effected or seriously damaged in anyway), sue the/a defendant.
In the case were plaintiffs receive success, all of the plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit will have to share
the compensation equally, that has been awarded. This type of lawsuit is very much unlike the normal
civil lawsuits. One of the major and main difference between the two is the number of plaintiffs involved.
Class action lawsuits can have up to hundreds and sometimes thousands of plaintiffs, this usually because
the damages are done to a community or a group of people. The normal civil lawsuit usually has one
plaintiff or in some cases a small group of individuals. The difference in plaintiffs shows that both
lawsuits are in place for different circumstances. In the class action lawsuit, the whole community/group
of people share the compensation awarded for the damages done to them, whereas in the normal civil
lawsuit, the individual gets compensation awarded for their personal damages and don’t need to share it
with anyone else. The other difference in the two is the litigation, in the class action lawsuit, all plaintiffs
involved have to pay money for their case, and this is done equally by all plaintiffs involved. In the
normal civil lawsuit, since there is only one plaintiff or just a small group (2-3 people), the litigation is
payed by just the individual or each on of the plaintiffs involved pay equal amounts, but since there is
only a small group, each plaintiff still pays a large amount. Although the case in the film was identified as
a class action lawsuit, both Brockovich and Masry did not receive payment during the case. But in the end
they got 40% of the compensation awarded to the plaintiffs which is $133.2 million, after the plaintiffs
won, as their payment. (California Business Journal, 2022; Reynolds et al. n.d.; Soderbergh, 2000)

Many class action lawsuits have happend here in Canada, an example being the Indian Residential
Schools class action lawsuit. Around mid-1980s and the 1990s, all of the Canadian residential school
survivors came together to create the class action lawsuit to receive something in return for all the thing
they went through in those school. Things such separation from families, physical abuse, sexual abuse,
separation from roots and culture etc. On the date of May 10, 2006, the case was settled. With the help of
the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, also known as the IRSSA, courts all of the country
approved fo the case and the plaintiffs (the residential school survivors) got a compensation of $1.9
billion. Each plaintiff had gotten a CEP (Common Experience Payment). It was said that ALL former
residential school survivors/ students, for their first year at the schools, will get $10,000 and then an
additional $3000 for any other years spent at a residential schools. Also, $5000 to $25,000 would be given
to the survivors of the schools that were physically abused and sexually abused. This specific case was
very impactful to Canadian society, because the Canadian Alternative Dispute Resolution, was created
from the help of this case, back in 2003. At one point, this resulted in many lawsuit/ cases against
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April 13th, 2023
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residential schools. This then lead the courts to make an outside of the court way to figure out the
compensation and other offers such as therapy, mental health/illness center etc, for the survivors. To add
on, this case started the Truth and Reconciliation Act. This allowed survivors to share their stories and
hope for changes and help from the government.

Now focusing on the film once again, we see that Brockovich took the case and fought it, but we need to
understand that she was not a lawyer but worked as a law clerk in the firm. A law clerk is an assistant to
the lawyers and they are to work under the supervision of the lawyers. Their jobs include interviewing the
lawyer's clients and the witnesses in any of the cases to help the lawyer research, collect and provide legal
documents, do file work and organize cases. In order to be a Law Clerk in Canada, one must have a
diploma, Law Clerk certificate and must have successfully passed 1 or 4 of the ontario law clerk exams.
Law clerks and paralegals are somewhat similar but have a few differences. The difference includes law
clerks working under the supervision of a lawyer, paralegals are allowed to work without supervision and
are allowed to represent clients in the Ontario’s small claims court. Paralegals are great options for people
who can’t afford lawyers due to the cost. Paralegals working in Ontario get payed around $33,280 to
$94,994. Paralegals are still restricted on certain things causing them to still be lower than lawyers.

I enjoyed watching the film, the plot, the acting and overall delivery was very well done. In the film
Brockovich had to deal with many problems but she would always find solutions and everything seemed
to be logically correct in the film. Even though she had many conflicts, the film showed as aspects fo her
life where she was happy such as her family, her kids, her job, showing us that no matter your situation
there is always light. The roles of the characters were very good, casting included Julia Roberts, who
played Erin Brockovich and Albert Finney who was casted as Ed Masry.

Julia Roberts was a good casting member for the lead role as she brought enthusiasm, strong will and
determination in the character of Brockovich. She players her role well, and she fit it perfectly too. Her
being able to fit into the role well allowed her to deliver her lines with success too, for example when
demanding her former lawyer and soon to be co-worker, Ed Masry, she said, “I don’t need pity. I need a
paycheck. And I’ve looked, but when you’ve spent the past six years raising babies, it’s real hard to
convince someone to give you a job that pays worth a damn” (Soderbergh, 2000, 13:34). Albert Finney
was a great casting member for the role of Ed Masry. He too showcased Masry’s emotions, his
responsibility and determination of a lawyer. He was also able to showcase struggles of small law firms
and how sometimes lawyers may turn down cases because the defendants are larger in size. In example in
the film is seen when Brockovich tries to convince Masry to take on the case and he replies with “[PG&E
are] a huge corporation. They could bury us in paperwork for the next 15 years. I’m just a guy with a
small private firm!” (Soderbergh, 2000, 1:04:02). The various actors playing for the Hinkley residents
also demonstrated great emotions, the sadness and loss needed for the damages was beautifully delivered
to the audience, allowing the audience to fell empathy and understand the damages and how they were
effecting these people.

Overall, the film was a great learning experience and enjoyable at the same time, although in my
opinion,the film could have ended in a different way. Instead of the text explaining what happend in the
conclusion, it would have been nice to see it acted out, just like mentioned before, it would have allowed
the audience to feel more of the film and understand it better.
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April 13th, 2023
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In conclusion, the film was a great watch, I would recommend it to audience members who enjoy plots
and who enjoy to learn something new. As for ratings, I would give this film a solid 4 out of 5.

Sources:

PG&E. (n.d.). Company Profile. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from

https://www.pge.com/en_US/about-pge/company-information/profile/profile.page

Kacala, A. (2020, October 5). 20 years after 'Erin Brockovich,' the real Erin Brockovich is
still fighting. TODAY. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from
https://www.today.com/popculture/20-years-after-erin-brockovich-real-erin-brockovich-still-fightin
g-t193252

Soderbergh, S (Director). (2000). Erin Brockovich [Film]. Universal Pictures; Columbia

Pictures; Jersey Films.

California Business Journal Editorial Staff. (2022, April 28). What is the difference
between civil and class action lawsuit. California Business Journal. Retrieved November 2,
2022, from
https://calbizjournal.com/what-is-the-difference-between-civil-and-class-action-lawsuit/