Description
Book SynopsisRecounts the courtroom confrontation between millions of ex-soldiers, the chemical industry and the federal government, from the first stirrings of the lawyers in 1978 to the court plan to distribute a record two-hundred-million-dollar settlement in 1985.
Trade Review[Schuck] brilliantly tells the story of the class action suit brought by thousands of Vietnam veterans against the chemical companies that manufactured the herbicide. He probes deeply into the strategies of plaintiffs' lawyers, the novel defenses invoked, and the sitting judge's role…For general readers as well as scholars, this is a fascinating trip through the complexities of the law and the all-too-human response by all concerned. * Library Journal *
Extraordinary…In addition to providing a clear, easily grasped, but sophisticated summary of the evolution of tort law, [Schuck] shows how the Agent Orange case was a great morality play, a cathartic drama about the Vietnam War and about America's dismal treatment of the soldiers who fought it…These pages offer the finest in investigative journalism and are destined to join the ranks of classics in legal literature…It is a first rate introduction to the world of tort law, a tour de force of legal narrative, and a deeply thoughtful consideration of policy reform. * Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law *
A blow-by-blow account of the ferocious six year legal battle…In vivid, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, Schuck portrays the primary actors—judges, lawyers, clerks, and individual veterans—in a Dickensian drama of personality clashes, misguided idealism, power struggles, greed, immeasurable suffering and bitter disillusionment. * USA Today *
An engrossing tale of naive, angry veterans, their crusading, often self-serving lawyers, well-heeled chemical companies, and both ineffective and brilliant judges…Schuck relates this complex drama with colorful, novelistic detail, while always keeping present the essential purpose of his book, which is a critical analysis of the evolution of tort (personal injury) law in times of mass toxic disasters (asbestos, Bhopal, etc., as well as Agent Orange) and the growing use of class-action lawsuits to deal with them. * Los Angeles Times *
Table of ContentsI. THE CONTEXT 1. A New Kind of Case 2. The Chemical and the Courts II. THE CASE 3. The Agent Orange War 4. Judge Pratt Rules 5. Discovery Begins 6. Three-Cornered Struggle 7. Enter Judge Weinstein 8. Fashioning a Settlement 9. A Question of Fairness 10. Compensations 11. The Final Act III. THE FUTURE 12. Versions of Legal Reality 13. Alternatives Afterword Notes Index
