A Civil Action

This brief introduction starts with attorney Jan Schlichtmann is awakened by a phone call at 8:30 in the morning. He has been dreaming about a young woman who works in an accounting firm. He has been seeing her every day for five months. She is a juror. When they see each other, they break eye contact immediately, not wanting to do anything ethically inappropriate in regard to the case in which they are both involved.

The phone call is from an officer at Baybank South Shore, which granted Schlichtmann an auto loan for a Porsche two years earlier. He has not been able to make a payment for months. The bank intends to repossess the car if he cannot make the full payment immediately. Schlichtmann tells them to call a man named Gordon and gives them a phone number. Twenty minutes later, a Sheriff calls. He is coming over to take possession of the vehicle. When he arrives, Jan takes him to a parking garage where the Porsche is parked. It is covered with dust. In the back are several boxes of files pertaining to the case Anne Anderson, et al., v. W.R. Grace & Co.