...“Erin Brockovich” – Movie Overview By Eryn Pilla, Hamilton Onyeukwu & Jennifer Poff The movie “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts is loosely based on a true story. In the movie, Roberts plays a sassy single mom who is down on her luck and struggling to provide for her three children. She was involved in a car accident and sued the driver of the other car- a wealthy doctor who she felt deserved the blame for the accident. The lawsuit was spearheaded by her lawyer, Ed Masry who eventually lost the case and caused Brockovich to seek employment from him as compensation and charity. During her early time as a legal assistant, Brockovich stumbled across a pro bono file containing information about a case Masry was handling in which Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) was attempting to purchase property from the Jensen family. Interestingly enough, contained within the case files were medical records, wondering why those documents were included in the case files for the home purchase, Brockovich decided to investigate further. With the consent of her boss, Masry, Brockovich set out to meet the family and ask questions relating to their ordeal with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). Upon speaking with Donna Jensen, Brockovich discovered that the gas company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) had provided doctors at their own expense to dismiss the claims of correlation between the sickness of the residents of Hinkley with the company’s chemical – Hexavalent Chromium...
Words: 802 - Pages: 4
...The movie Erin Brockovich is based on a true story of a heroic paralegal, who uncovers that a California utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, polluted the ground water around Hinkley, California. Pacific Gas and Electric Company used Hexavalent Chromium to control corrosion in their cooling tower. The wastewater dissolves the Hexavalent Chromium from the cooling towers and then discharges to unlined ponds at the site. This wastewater went into the soil and contaminated the ground water. The families who lived in that area had no suspicion that their illnesses were the result of the water contamination. Everything started when Erin gets some medical records from a real-estate file. As the story unfolds, Erin is using a direct approach with her appearance, dedication, kindness and hard work to unveil a massive water contamination cover-up. Also, there are a few ethical issues arising in this movie about her appearance and the approach that she is choosing to find the truth. She is convincing her attorney Mr. Masory to take the risk and fight against the big corporation. Erin Brockovich took an unconventional path to her profession, uses her fabulous looks to persuade, all while maintaining the professional conduct. First of all, Erin became a paralegal by forcing her way to Mr. Masory’s office to extort a job from him. In order to get a job at Mr. Masory’s office, her path was to act like a new staff member. Next, Erin starts to research and investigate...
Words: 815 - Pages: 4
...Erin Brockovich Leadership Review MSA 601 Organizational Dynamics and Human Behavior Submitted by: Tabitha McDaniel Project Instructor: Kenneth Lynch November 11, 2014 Erin Brockovich “Leadership always comes down to a question of character.” - Management expert Warren Bennis (Judge,1999) Being a good leader is done by making the correct choices and inspiring people to complete their tasks and work together as a team. In order to be a great leader you need to think outside the box and travel the road that is seldom or never traveled. A great leader will use their inspiration and determination to complete the tasks no matter what hurdles or problems they may be faced with. They believe in what they do and will go above and beyond to complete their job. The movie Erin Brockovich gives one of the best examples of one person’s determination and drive as she takes on a large corporation who was covering up the fact they were contaminating the water supply in a town. By doing this she displays all the qualities of being a great leader, brings down a corrupt corporation and helps an entire town of families. Erin is a single mother with three children and is relatively broke. She is twice divorced and doesn’t have a college degree. With all of these attributes you wouldn’t think she is the ideal candidate for being a great leader but she turns out to be a great example that leaders can come...
Words: 987 - Pages: 4
...December 7, 1987 officials from PG&E Company advised the State of California they had detected levels of chromium 6 in a groundwater monitoring well north of the compressor station's waste water ponds. These levels were 10 times greater than the maximum amount allowed by law. Known as a cancer-causing agent since the 1920s, chrome 6 is seriously dangerous to the lungs. Since many of the Hinkley residents were reporting respiratory problems, chrome 6 contamination seemed possible. After PG&E reported the pollution to the government, company officials started a program to buy every piece of land in the community thought to be affected by the pollution. This is what medical records had to do with real estate transactions and led Erin Brockovich, a paralegal, to discover the illegal actions of PG&E. It wasn't long before PG&E had 75% of those houses and buildings demolished. The company reported that it was merely responding to vandalism in the area. PG&E distributed flyers discussing the company's use of chromium which one could build a strong case that carefully selected words were deliberately misleading stating that chromium is found in vitamins. Reading these words, one could reasonably think PG&E's hexavalent chromium was good for your health. Failure to properly identify the dangerous "chromium" they had dumped into the environment wasn't PG&E's only omission. The flyer implied that detection of contamination at the compressor station was a new...
Words: 1350 - Pages: 6
...Ethical Issues in Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich is in a car accident that is not her fault and hires attorney Ed Masry to defend her. He gave her the impression that she would be getting a good settlement, but she lost the case. She is a single mom of three, has no money and is unable to find a job. She blames him for losing the case (due to lack of preparation) and forces her way in to a job at his law firm. Because of the way she dresses and acts, nobody takes her seriously and treats her with respect. She is given a real estate pro-bono file to open involving the purchase of Donna Jensen’s home by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PS&E). As she read through the documentation, she found it confusing that there was medical information included in the file. Erin becomes suspicious and asks to further investigate the case. After talking with Donna Jensen, as well as other residents of Hinkley, she became aware that they all had similar medical problems. As she digs deeper, she realizes that PG&E was at fault because they were dumping a toxic waste (chromium 6) in the town water and it was poisoning the people in Hinkley. At first, the residents are hesitant to jump on board and go against PG&E because they believe the company has done a lot of good for the community. Erin made it her mission to convince the people and once she did, she was determined to do whatever necessary to make this large corporation pay for what they had done and the lives they...
Words: 1602 - Pages: 7
...For this paper, I watched the movie Erin Brockovich because it represents numerous social problems. This movie was about a single mother who is trying to raise three young children, while trying to hold down a good job. She also had a very hard time finding adequate daycare for her children. One day, Erin Brockovich was filing papers at a lawyer's office when she came across this real estate document. This real estate document said that Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) was going to buy this family's house to build freeway ramp to their company. For some reason, this document intrigued Erin, and so she went to investigate it. She went and talked to the family whose house was in the process of being bought by PG&E and this family had numerous medical problems. Erin went and investigated some water documents about PG&E, and what she uncovered was a massive water contamination cover-up. This family had no idea that their illnesses were the result of water contamination or even that their illnesses had anything in common. PG&E paid them to see a doctor, and PG&E paid the doctor to say that their illnesses had nothing in common. In fact, all these illness were caused by Hexavalent poising. PG&E used Hexavalent Chromium to cool their towers down faster, and they discarded this water in holding ponds. These holding ponds were supposed to be lined, but they were not and the contaminated water seeped into the ground water supply. The holding ponds had been covered up with dirt since PG&E...
Words: 346 - Pages: 2
...dilemma presented in the movie Erin Brockovich. In this movie, Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, is a single mother who recently lost a law suit against a doctor from a recent car wreck. She has gone through a period of bad luck and marriage problems, and early on the movie it seems like Brockovich may have hit the hardest point in her life. From her persistence, Brockovich’s lawyer Edward Masry, played by Albert Finney, helped her out by extending her a job offer in his office as a file clerk. Brockovich slowly adapts to her new life in the office, and as she is working she discovers files detailing medical records involved from a Pacific Gas and Electric real-estate purchase. Brockovich begins to venture down a twisted and controversial path to get to the bottom of what she believes is a major cover up. As she helps to bring to light the facts surrounding the situation, Brockovich becomes one of the most famous whistleblowers in history. Brockovich’s journey sees her dealing with major adversity as she brings a lawsuit which resulted in the largest direct action lawsuit settlement in the United States. As Erin Brockovich becomes settled at her new job in at the law firm, she is able to stumble upon information about Pacific Gas and Electric detailing the purchasing of a house owned by Donna Jensen in Hinkley, California. Looking at these details further, Brockovich notices the frequency of some strange illnesses in Hinkley. Brockovich travels to the town to make...
Words: 1058 - Pages: 5
...Erin Brockovich The movie Erin Brockovich is based on a true story of a heroic paralegal, who uncovers that a California utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, polluted the groundwater around Hinkley, California. Pacific Gas and Electric Company used Hexavalent Chromium to control corrosion in their cooling tower. The wastewater dissolves the Hexavalent Chromium from the cooling towers and then discharges to unlined ponds at the site. This wastewater went into the soil and contaminated the groundwater. As the story unfolds, Erin is using a direct approach with her appearance, dedication, kindness and hard work to unveil a massive water contamination cover-up. Also, there are a few ethical issues arising in this movie about her appearance and the approach that she is choosing to find the truth. She is convincing her attorney Mr. Masory to take the risk and fight against the big corporation. She utilizes her sexuality at the water board to achieve her target. On the other hand, a professionally qualified paralegal would have represented her firm in her manner and appearance. Other than that, in order to obtain the same information’s and documents, a professional paralegal would have sent a subpoena through her law firm. The families who lived in that area had no suspicion that their illnesses were the result of the water contamination. Erin became a paralegal by forcing her way to Mr. Masory’s office to extort a job from him. In order to get a job at Mr....
Words: 628 - Pages: 3
...Erin Brockovich movie clip I have chosen to choose the film Erin Brockovich and the scene where Erin gets rehired. In this scene her ex-boss, Ed, comes to her door to ask about the information that has come to him. Erin tells him that if he rehires her then she will tell him. He then rehires her and they talk about what has been happening with some of the people that are living where they have been affected by the hexavalent chromium. She extorts Ed for a raise and benefits. Erin gets her information about PG&E from the water board by flaunting herself. “The Director of this movie is Steven Soderbergh. The Producers are Carla Santos Shamberg, Danny DeVito, and Stacey Sher. The Cinematographer is Edward Lachman. The Editor is Anne V. Coates. The Costume designer is Jeffrey Kurland. The Screenwriter is Susannah Grant (http://movieclips.com/N4kHP-erin-brockovich-movie-erin-is-re-hired/)”. “The Production Design is by Philip Messina and the Art Direction is by Christa Munro (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/fullcredits )”. The Director has a very important role. "The director is the one that is responsible for the whole film. The director is the one that interprets the script into their own vision and then decides the final look of the whole film with the production designer and cinematographer. The director will also be the one that is directing the actors as well as the action while it is being shot (Goodykoontz, 2011, Ch. 7)." "The directors are not only the ones that...
Words: 1893 - Pages: 8
...ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000) Cast: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney. Directed by: Steven Soderbirgh Screenplay: Susannah Grant The motion picture titled ‘Erin Brockovich’ is written by Susannah Grant and directed by Steven Soderbirgh and is based on true events between the years 1993 and 1996. Released in the year 2000, this Hollywood movie revolves around two characters: Erin Brockovich an American environmentalist and paralegal official. The other character is the US based power and gas firm ‘Pacific Gas and Electric Company’ (PG & E) which is responsible for providing gas and electricity utilities to almost 2/3rds of the northern Californian population. The events surrounding a much publicized and broadcasted case involving PG & E and residents of Hinkley, California expose a plethora of business and general ethical issues that form a sumptuous academic feast for any business student. Before exploring the central characters of this story and inspecting the varied moral and ethical positions adopted by them in the movie, we must engage ourselves in creating a brief background study of the people and the institutions that play a pivotal role in this intriguing drama of business ethics and it’s relation with human psyche and actions. Main Characters: a. Erin ‘Patty’ Brockovich: Erin is a thirty three years old - twice divorced single mother of 3 children by the name of Matthew, Katy and Beth who age 8 years, 6 years and 9 months respectively in the beginning...
Words: 3172 - Pages: 13
...conceivably permits himself to be subjected to expert behavior infringement through the demonstrations of his workers. From a Teleological viewpoint, the results were moral as the result was effective as profited the reason as it were. 2. Erin shares in some oppressive or threatening conduct while in her office. She routinely spooks the legitimate aide at the law office. She additionally utilizes some foul dialect and yelling, which made somewhat of a threatening situation at work. According to the Deontological viewpoint, this conduct of Erin is not dishonest as her hardheaded conduct is her unimportant identity as she needs her way through and does not need any issues while she works. Her aim is not to make issues, rather to simply complete her work. Be that as it may, from an Utilitarian point of view her conduct is untrustworthy as it makes superfluous inconvenience and a threatening and beset conduct at work. 3. Erin's clothing standard and clothing is improper as per the convention of her workplace. According to the Deontological point of view, her method for dressing is not unscrupulous since her aim is not to over-appear or make anyone "uncomfortable". She dresses the way she does, simply because that is how she is. 4. Erin harassers her manager keeping in mind the end goal to land a position as his secretary in his law office. So as to gain as a profession, she constrains her way through the law office effectively and lands the position of his secretary. So from...
Words: 925 - Pages: 4
...customers. At last, the company had to pay for what it had done: $333 million to victims. Definitely employees would be greatly affected, because they may lose their jobs if the company goes bankruptcy due to lawsuits and damages. They could have stopped this but they remained silent. As for residents in Hinkley, the polluted water ruined their lives. The epidemic swept the whole community even the young children failed to escape from this. I found a handful of ethical issues in Erin Brockovich. To begin with, there was an issue of bribery. PG&E tried to buy houses which located in that contaminated land, and give house owners a good deal. It offered $250,000 to Jensen to her house. Clearly they knew why they offered so generously and what they did was wrong, but they did that anyway. Therefore, it is an ethical decision. Besides, an issue of whistle blowing also was shown in this movie. Eventually a brave employee who was in charge of destroying documents about the water problem in PG&E told Erin a lot of information about what exactly happened. This is an ethical decision, as that employee did the right thing. Finally, an issue of honesty and integrity was involved in the movie. The company lied to local residents, and even told doctors to lie that the their diseases had nothing to do with the water problem. This is also an ethical decision, because the company knew this was absolutely wrong. If I were the manager of PG&E, I would firstly stop supplying poisonous...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
...Feldman portrays a young woman named Devoireh, struggling to grow and gain the freedom she deserves under all the restrictions and barriers laid upon her. Contained in these pages, are the examination of the primary and secondary sources such as: the movie Erin Brockovich directed by Steven Soderbergh, the memoir The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara, articles such as Norse Jewish Women Tells Of Holocaust from the New York Times and Judaism, the women’s version by Tamar Rotem which brings out the major themes like freedom, determination, struggle and courage. Within these primary and secondary sources a strong relation to the major archetypal figures are displayed through out the memoir such as: the crusader, the survivor and the innocent, the contexts of these sources depict Feldman’s interpretation of Devoireh. There are many strong willed women who are told they are incapable of pursuing what they want because they are “women”. With many struggles and obstacles, in the film Erin Brockovich, the major character Erin displays herself as a remarkable woman who achieved what she desired most because she had a vision to pursue her goal. This plot unveils the theme determination from the memoir Unorthodox because in relation to Erin, Devoireh was in pursuit to set herself free from her Satmar community and with conviction she was successful. Devoireh believed her destiny was not to abide with the little Jewish community set in Williamsburg, Brooklyn...
Words: 1520 - Pages: 7
...Together We Stand Letter Outline Heydi Maldonado – Paz Edgar Serrano HUM/114 August 04, 2011 Randy Stinnett Outline: Together we stand letter I. Introduction: Several children and adults in our community have been developing extensive and similar illnesses. This is not clearly a case of genetics; this is a problem that started since the development planning and execution of our community The purpose of this letter is to let the people know what is happening in our community and create conscious to step up and unite in a fight for justice. “An informed citizen is the only true repository of the American will.” Thomas Jefferson (Official Website of Erin Brockovich, 2010). II Body Paragraph #1 A. Due to the unsafe chemical disposal the town’s water has been contaminated with chromium 6. * Health effects to the public: cancer, cramps, or paralysis and may also damage the respiration tract. * Upon termination chromium acid is formed, which decomposes the organs. * Wastewater is being flushed into our water every day. III Body Paragraph #2 B. Company’s unsafe chemical-disposal. * The company has been practicing unsafe disposal for twenty plus years. * Keeping it a secret from the community. * How could this have happened? IV Body Paragraph # 3 C. Action that needs to be taken. * Minimize the amount of...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
...Ryan Vandervalk Erin Brockovich Newspaper Article The film Erin Brockovich, is about a single mother who swears like a sailor. She is struck by a car after another unsuccessful job interview. Her lawyer Ed Masry feels confident that he will be able to get her money in a settlement, but is not able to as the ill mannered Erin loses her temper while the court is in session. Erin demands that Ed hires her to work for the firm since she is desperate for money, and he obliges to do so only after protesting quite a bit. While at work, Erin comes across some suspicious activity on some real estate documents for residents of a small blue collar town called Hinkley. Erin launches her own investigation and discovers that the evil corporation PG&E has poisoned their water with hexavalent chromium. There are six different types of chromium, some of which can even be healthy for the human body. Hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), is a carcinogen which is extremely unhealthy to come in contact with. Anyway, the sinister corporation lied to the residents of Hinkley about which type of chromium they put in the water. The lower class residents of Hinkley are tricked into thinking that the Chromium in the water was actually healthy for them. Many of the residents had cancer, tumors and other life threatening illnesses. The only reason they told the families about the chromium was so they could trick them into thinking it was healthy! PG&E again demonstrates their malevolent behavior by hiring...
Words: 553 - Pages: 3
