Reality* - Richard Sanderson

I was randomly channel surfing the other day when I came across an old Travolta movie, A Civil Action. It was just about to start - so what the heck? I was bored and sleepy and had no mood to do anything else.

In less than 5 minutes into the movie, I was wide awake! It really caught hold of me with a good firm grip!

It started off with Travolta's character, Jan Schlichtmann narrating this - "It's like this. A dead plaintiff is rarely worth as much as a living, severely-maimed plaintiff. However, if it's a long slow agonizing death, as opposed to a quick drowning or car wreck, the value can rise considerably. A dead adult in his 20s is generally worth less than one who is middle aged. A dead woman less than a dead man. A single adult less than one who's married. Black less than white. Poor less than rich. The perfect victim is a white male professional, 40 years old, at the height of his earning power, struck down in his prime. And the most imperfect? Well, in the calculus of personal injury law, a dead child is worth the least of all."

From that point onwards, it got me hooked! It helped when the opening credits revealed that the movie also starred Robet Duvall - who was absolutely brilliant in this movie. They were aptly supported by Tony "Monk" Shalhoub, William H. Macy, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow, James Gandolfini and a small role by Stephen Fry.

But at the end of the day, we are talking about John Travolta at his best. Sure, he has made some duds but he is one engaging actor and in his element, he is truly one of the most entertaining actors around!

To top it off, this was a legal drama! A tortious claim - personal injury, one of the things my former legal firm does. A bit close to home, I guess.

The movie was pretty good - although the ending seemed to be a little anti-climax. But that's to be expected, I guess since this movie was based on a true story. Therefore be warned - no typical Hollywood ending! It was still pretty good, tho, IMHO.

One of the thing about this movie that made it appealing to me was that it was pretty realistic in its portrayal of personal injury claims and lawyers. There were even a few scenes of Robert Duvall's character giving lectures (presumably for an advocacy class) and making some very true and relevant points and the filmakers used the courtroom scenes to illustrate the point. Like one basic rule of cross-examination is to never ask a question unless you know what the answer if going to be. Travolt's character learned it the hard way - like yours truly too!!! 

Here are a few of the quotes taken from the movie which got me nodding in agreement!

Jerome Facher: The truth? I thought we were talking about a court of law. Come on, you've been around long enough to know that a courtroom isn't a place to look for the truth. 

Jan Schlichtmann: The odds of a plaintiff's lawyer winning in civil court are two to one against. Think about that for a second. Your odds of surviving a game of Russian roulette are better than winning a case at trial. 12 times better. So why does anyone do it? They don't. They settle. Out of the 780,000, only 12,000 or 11/2 percent ever reach a verdict. The whole idea of lawsuits is to settle, to compel the other side to settle. And you do that by spending more money than you should, which forces them to spend more money than they should, and whoever comes to their senses first loses. Trials are a corruption of the entire process and only fools who have something to prove end up ensnared in them. Now when I say prove, I don't mean about the case, I mean about themselves. 

Jerome Facher: [to law students] Now the single greatest liability a lawyer can have is pride. Pride... Pride has lost more cases than lousy evidence, idiot witnesses and a hanging judge all put together. There is absolutely no place in a courtroom for pride. 

Jan Schlichtmann: The lawyer who shares his client's pain, in my opinion, does his client such a grave disservice, he should have his license to practice law taken away. It clouds his judgment. And that's a beneficial to his client as a doctor who recoils at the sight of blood.

If you have not been a practising lawyer, you may be surprised at these lines - but lemme tell you that these views are spot on!!! This is the real legal practice! Good stuffs!

*One of my fav eighties hit!