1

For the next eighteen months, the Woburn case is in the background of Jan’s life and there is little movement. After a successful case involving a hotel fire, Jan does not receive the recognition he feels he is owed and he leaves Reed & Mulligan to start his own firm. A lawyer named Bill Crowley goes with him, and so does Conway. Schlichtmann, Conway & Crowley kicks off its opening day with a huge party. Over a hundred lawyers come, along with Teresa and many old friends. That night, Conway asks Jan to get rid of Woburn. But Jan isn’t able to cut ties yet. His philosophy for the firm is that they will only take cases with large potential rewards and that would also require a huge investment of time, money, and energy. He and Conway agree to take only ten new cases each year. They quickly reject frivolous cases, which they call “dogs.”

Other cases are called “orphans.” These are cases that looked like they might be winnable but had been rejected by other law firms. Most of the orphans are medical malpractice cases, which are notoriously difficult to prove. For six months, Jan focuses solely on the case of a young man named Paul Carney, who was in a minor car accident and suffered whiplash, but left the hospital, five months later, having contracted a massive infection during his stay that disintegrated the bones of his hips. By focusing on Carney, Jan turns Woburn into an orphan case. The biggest draw of the Carney trial is that Jan turned down a million-dollar settlement, believing he could get more.

One week before the Carney trial, Jan runs into Cheeseman. They have not seen each other for a year. They discuss the case and Cheeseman comes upstairs to Jan’s office to see the exhibits he plans to use, exhibits detailing the degeneration of Carney’s hips. The trial lasts for fifteen days. On the day of Jan’s summation, one of the people in attendance is a lawyer named Rikki Kleiman, who was a clerk for Judge Skinner and who had been on several dates with Jan.

The jurors award $4.7 million to Carney. Jan was right. This is the biggest award that has ever been offered as a settlement in the state’s history. It is a huge boost of confidence for Jan, and he decides he is finally ready for Woburn.

2

On February 8, 1984, Jan meets with three hundred people at Trinity Episcopal Church to hear from two professors from the Harvard School of Public Health. The professors have recently announced the completion of their three-year study of leukemia in Woburn.

Three years earlier, a professor named Marvin Zelen had heard Anne Anderson speak and had been intrigued by the possible link between the wells and the leukemia cluster. Zelen and a colleague collected a massive amount of data, tracking the outcome of every Woburn pregnancy and childbirth from 1960-1982. By the survey’s end, they had information on over five thousand children. The study concluded that water from Wells G and H were strongly linked to an array of terrible health consequences. Woburn infants had an increased rate of fetal and newborn deaths in the areas compelled to consume the greatest amounts of the well water. There were also higher instances of allergies, skin conditions, and various respiratory ailments. After detailing the links between many other conditions and the water, the report closes by affirming that exposure to the water also correlates to high instances of childhood leukemia.

Some doctors, including Truman sing the study’s praises. Others criticize its methodology and call it sloppy. Regardless, an article soon appears in the Boston Globe entitled “Woburn Leukemia Linked to Tainted Water.”

Jan is encouraged by the study, and the response to it. However, he knows that it has limitations, and they will need more to prove that TCE was responsible for the many cases of leukemia.

3

The day after the study’s release, Cheeseman files a summary judgment motion. The motion asks Judge Skinner to dismiss the complaint. Cheeseman’s rationale is that if the study could not prove that TCE caused leukemia, Jan Schlichtmann has no grounds to take the case before a jury. Two illustrious doctors sign affidavits supporting his position.

As part of his response, Jan meets with an immunologist named Alan Levin. Levin believes that constant exposure to even low levels of TCE weakened the immune systems of the Woburn families who had the most contact with the contaminated water. In a weakened immune system, malignant cells have a better chance of thriving. However, objective tests to this effect are difficult. Levin recommends that they go to a Harvard immunopathologist named Robert Colvin, who specializes in tracking the post-organ-transplant immune systems of patients. The tests are expensive, but Jan proceeds, although Colvin tells him that he doubts they will find anything. He recommends beginning with just one family, the Zonas. Over the next few weeks, all twenty-eight members of the Woburn families involved in the lawsuit have blood drawn. Jan submits a brief detailing the results.

Cheeseman’s summary judgment motion is denied by Judge Skinner.

4

The case is two and a half years old and Jan is convinced that Woburn is his destiny. Judge Skinner summons him and Cheeseman to his chambers and gives them nine months to put their cases together before trial. Jan knows that it is going to cost a fortune. He visits the annual meeting of the board of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in Milwaukee and lays out the costs for the case he envisions. It comes to over half a million dollars. That night Jan goes out for a drink with Roisman, who tells him that the board has decided to let Jan have the case. He is solely responsible for its outcome, its strategy, and its risk. For its former work, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice will still take 12 percent of whatever settlement results.

5

That fall, Schlichtmann runs into Cheeseman after returning from Milwaukee. Cheeseman has learned some news that concerns him. Records of the Grace plant in Woburn revealed that at least four 55-gallon drums of TCE had been ordered, not one, as had been reported to the EPA. The plant manager had also ordered workers to bury six drums behind the plant a decade prior. They were ordered to dig them up. A picture of the exhumation appeared on the front page of the Woburn Daily Times. He now thought that any jury would think that Grace was guilty of contaminating the wells, but he was still unconvinced that TCE caused leukemia, especially in small doses. It was starting to look like all outcomes would lead to a public relations nightmare.

Cheeseman has an idea for a new motion. The EPA’s report had mentioned a company called Unifirst, which operated north of the wells. Unifirst had admitted to an accidental spill of TCE, which they used for cleaning clothes, but stated that the spill had been quickly contained. If Cheeseman could implicate Unifirst it might deflect blame from Grace. It would also complicate things for Schlichtmann. Dealing with yet another company would further strain his resources and time. However, after Judge Skinner approves the motion, Schlichtmann is delighted. He quickly meets with the lawyer representing Unifirst, and they agree to do whatever they need to keep the focus on W.R. Grace.

Unifirst does not cooperate in a joint defense, and instead files countersuits against Grace and Beatrice Foods. Cheeseman has no choice but to release Unifirst from the suit.

Unifirst negotiates with Schlichtmann and offers to pay $150,000 in cash, with a remaining balance of $400,000 to be paid in five years. He meets with the Woburn families, who vote to accept the settlement and to use the cash payment to help finance the case.