PLAINTIFFS’ LAWYER FILM FESTIVAL
There are many great lawyer and courtroom movies, but the list of movies about tort cases is shorter. A tort case is a civil lawsuit where one person or entity (the plaintiff) holds another person or entity (the defendant) legally responsible for a wrongful act that causes physical, financial, psychological, or property harm. The dramas highlight how difficult it can be to successfully take a case to trial, and the lengths that corporate defendants, and insurance companies, will go to defend them. The dramas also illuminate the important role that these lawsuits play in making the world safer, and holding the wrongdoers accountable, and hopefully deterring future wrongs.
For your viewing pleasure, here is a list of movies about tort cases worth watching. We finish our list with a couple of comedies which will help bring a smile to your face. Let us know if we missed a favorite of yours.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
The Verdict (1982). A struggling plaintiff’s lawyer rejects a settlement and takes a difficult malpractice case against a powerful hospital to trial.
Stars: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason.
The Verdict, is my personal favorite. The film stars Paul Newman as a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer in Boston who accepts a medical malpractice case. He is in over his head and fighting a team of expensive defense attorneys. Spoiler alert! There is perhaps no more gratifying scene, for a plaintiff’s lawyer to watch, than when the jury finds in favor of the plaintiff, and the foreman asks whether the jury can award more than what was sought. The movie was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director (Sidney Lumet), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Paul Newman), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (James Mason), and Best Adapted Screenplay (David Mamet).
MASS TORT, ENVIRONMENTAL
A Civil Action (1998). A plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer risks his firm and fortune representing families who claim industrial groundwater contamination caused their children’s leukemia.
Stars: John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, and James Gandolfini.
Erin Brockovich (2000). A legal assistant uncovers evidence linking contaminated groundwater to residents’ illnesses and helps build a massive claim.
Stars: Julia Roberts (Academy Award for Best Actress), Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart.
Dark Waters (2019). A corporate defense lawyer investigates evidence that DuPont’s PFOA chemical contaminated drinking water and endangered communities. Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp.
This trio of films are based on true stories about the pollution of water due to chemical runoff and dumping, resulting in serious illnesses in the surrounding communities. All involve lawsuits against corporations that put profit over safety. The stories highlight the difficulties in bringing these lawsuits in time, money, and resources. Though the cases were ultimately successful, the plaintiff’s lawyers in Dark Waters, and A Civil Action ended up in a worse place financially and professionally. Meanwhile, the corporate defendants continued to operate profitably. A Civil Action does a particularly good job of showing the onus on obtaining evidence and proving a case at trial.
PRODUCT LIABILITY
Class Action (1991). A plaintiff’s lawyer suing an automaker discovers that his estranged daughter is working on the defense team.
Stars: Gene Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Laurence Fishburne.
Class Action was inspired by the Ford Pinto controversy and the ensuing lawsuits against Ford. In real life plaintiff’s lawyers uncovered internal Ford crash tests showing that the gas tank of the Ford Pinto ruptured in almost every rear-end test over 25 mph. They also revealed that executives knew about an inexpensive fix but chose to defer it, resulting in drivers suffering severe injuries. The movie changes the vehicle and the company involved, but the inspiration of the movie remains clear.
INSURANCE BAD FAITH
The Rainmaker (1997). A young plaintiff’s lawyer takes on an insurer that refused to pay for lifesaving treatment for a leukemia patient.
Stars: Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight. Based on a John Grisham novel.
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
Philadelphia (1993). An attorney fired after his firm discovers he has AIDS hires a lawyer to sue his former employer for discrimination.
Stars: Tom Hanks (Academy Award for Best Actor), Denzel Washington, Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas. Academy Award for Best Original Song — Streets of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen).
North Country (2005). A female mine worker challenges pervasive sexual harassment and helps bring a landmark class-action discrimination case.
Stars: Charlize Theron (nominated for best actress), Frances McDormand (nominated for best supporting actress), Woody Harrelson, Sissy Spacek.
North Country is based on the real-life story of Lois Jenson and the landmark lawsuit Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., which was the first sexual harassment class-action lawsuit in the United States. In the movie it is affirmatively stated that the movie is based on true events. In contrast, when Philadelphia was released, TriStar Pictures initially marketed it as a purely fictional story. This led Geoffrey Bowers’ family to sue the filmmakers and the studio for $10 million. The family pointed out 54 distinct similarities between Bowers’ life and the film. Further, Hollywood producer Scott Rudin had interviewed the Bowers family extensively in 1988 to option his story before the project shifted studios. In 1996, the filmmakers settled out of court for a reported seven-figure sum and publicly admitted that the movie was indeed “partly based” on Bowers’ life.
DOCUMENTARY, Personal Injury
Hot Coffee (2011). This documentary revisits the McDonald’s hot-coffee case and examines public perceptions of plaintiffs and tort law. This is an important movie which reveals the real story behind the meritorious case against McDonald’s, and how big corporations used the case in an inflammatory way to advocate for tort reform.
COMEDY
The Fortune Cookie (1966). An unscrupulous lawyer persuades his cameraman brother-in-law to exaggerate injuries after an accident at a football game.
Stars: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau (Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor). A classic Lemon and Matthau screwball comedy directed and written by Billy Wilder.
Coyote vs. Acme (2026). After years of injuries caused by malfunctioning Acme products, Wile E. Coyote hires a struggling personal-injury lawyer to sue the corporation.
Stars: Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor, and classic Loony Toons characters. Fun for the whole family!