Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts - Hardcover

SCHUCK, PH

3.44

43 ratings by Goodreads

9780674010253: Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674010256 ISBN 13: 9780674010253

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1986

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all Americans interested in their environment, their legal system, their history, and their future.

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Review:

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. 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. 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. 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. Orange) and the growing use of class-action lawsuits to deal with them. personality clashes, misguided idealism, power struggles, greed, immeasurable suffering and bitter disillusionment. introduction to the world of tort law, a tour de force of legal narrative, and a deeply thoughtful consideration of policy reform. 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.

About the Author:

Peter H. Schuck is Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law, Yale University.

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