By Karen - 19 August 2021
As a person who studied environmental science and law in the United States and worked as a law in the United States, everything in Dark Waters made me feel the same. I took a deep breath and thanked someone for being an enemy of us and the world.
Regarding plaintiff side's firm and corporate defender firm: Both are regular visitors to the environmental litigation law, and the plaintiff side's lawyer and the company's defense lawyer have always been a pair of enemies. Since the plaintiff's lawyer generally adopts a risk agency system, in order to protect the benefits of the partners, there are very few elite law firms in the United States willing to be the plaintiff's lawyer. Billott, the protagonist of the film, is a small partner of such an elite law firm. When he decided to accept the case, it seemed that he had no right to speak in the law firm. Fortunately, with the support of the big boss, we can insist on going the agent. There is a detail. When he insisted on getting medical experts to report the good news, Billott received a call from the law firm's administrative requesting to talk to him about Unbilled Hour, and his pressure immediately increased. It can be seen that he has been losing money from the law firm continuously because of this case, which may cause other partners to expel him from the law firm. No wonder he was admitted to the hospital.
Regarding mediation, Medical Monitoring and settlement: The initial settlement of this case was the establishment of an expert group to conduct epidemiological investigations. Due to sample limitations, epidemiological investigations can be described as very difficult and time-consuming, and the epidemiological investigations in this case are based on the premise that DuPont pays fees. I think DuPont initially sought a settlement because it did not want this case to continue to appear in the public eye, and DuPont's law firm and expert team are also convinced that epidemiological studies cannot find strong supporting evidence. To carry out medical monitoring with unlimited time for so many people, DuPont accompanied his wife and broke down. So in the end they prepared to respond, and they also firmly believed that the plaintiff could not survive the cost of time and money. However, after a few cases, DuPont still agreed to a settlement fee of about $600 million. I think this cost is still lower than the continuous medical monitoring of so many people. It may be the real reason why DuPont is trying to avoid Medical Monitoring.
Money, money, money: Billott, the protagonist of the film, is very impressive. He said that we all think that our system can protect us, but in fact, we can only protect ourselves. In fact, it is not that the judicial administration system of the United States cannot protect the weak, but that it takes too much money to protect the weak under the current system. DuPont has money and time, which are not available to thousands of farmers in West Virginia, so they will be anxious. Complaining, quitting, or even dying, and DuPont is still the "good company" in the eyes of the villager. Whether it is the cruel nature of capitalist society or the design of modern judicial procedures, Billott may not be able to sustain it without money. root cause. Without money, you will lose the lawsuit. If you lose the support of the law firm and your loved ones, you will lose your career and destiny. If so, will you still be brave enough to be the enemy of the whole world? I think most of the people and I who have lived in the United States for many years may not stop after weighing the pros and cons.
The judge said: Plaintiff? Why are you still here?
Billott: Your Excellency, yes, I'm still here.
