et al. v. W.R. Grace Anne Anderson and Beatrice Foods: 1986

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for a new trial of the suit against Beatrice Foods on the grounds that defense lawyers failed to disclose a potentially damaging report on the pollution of the property that Beatrice Foods owned. The federal appeals court ordered a new hearing on the issue of the pollution from the JJ. Riley tannery, finding dereliction of duty by the company and its lawyers for failing to supply a 1983 hydrogeologic report that might have confirmed that the tannery had contaminated the ground water. The appeals court claimed that "the record contains clear and convincing evidence—overwhelming evidence, to call a spade a spade—that [Beatrice] engaged in what must be called misconduct" on the tannery issue.

The case returned to the original trial court for hearings on the report, but there Judge Skinner denied the plaintiffs a new trial, saying that it would be "pointless, wasteful and unwarranted." During the hearings Schlictmann charged Beatrice Foods with a massive cover-up of environmental crimes and charged that the J.J. Riley Company had illegally carted off toxic waste from its property to conceal the pollution. In his decision, Skinner chastised Schlictmann for pursuing a retrial, claiming that he lacked "competent evidence." Skinner found that the report in question failed to prove conclusively that chemical contamination committed by Beatrice existed at the tannery. "The chance that a viable 'tannery case' could be developed in any further proceedings is virtually nonexistent," he declared, "even if the plaintiffs were entitled to try." The First Circuit upheld this decision on appeal in 1990, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari that same year.

But the litigation was not over yet. The struggles of the families in Woburn and their attorney, Jan Schlictmann, were later chronicled in a popular book and a movie, both entitled A Civil Action. This prompted a defamation suit against Jonathan Haar, the book's author, and Random House, Inc., its publisher. In still another case, Beatrice Foods sued its insurance companies to recover legal fees.

The Woburn cases demonstrated that eight tragedy-stricken families and a small law firm could successfully challenge two rich and powerful corporations and their attorneys. The cases also raised awareness of the importance of corporations properly disposing of and handling hazardous materials.