Reply #2: Last night on AMC they showed the movie a "Civil Action"

[rockedthevoteinMA]

It was about some big manufacturing giants who dumped their toxic waste on the ground, in the river, and buried it in Woburn MA. A bunch of young children ended up with leukemia. It was so sad to watch - but on the lawyer topic, John Travolta played a the lawyer who went after the companies...

"A CIVIL ACTION, written by Jonathan Harr, won the 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction and was a finalist for the nonfiction Book of the Year Award. As of February 1999, it has sold 1.5 million copies and has been on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 114 weeks.
Jonathan Harr, the author, was the recipient of the 1997 Environmental Awareness Award from the League of Conservation Voters. The award is made to individuals who incorporate environmental protection into their work and help raise public awareness of envirnmental issues."
http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/courtroom/action.htm

In the end of the movie they stated that he was working in NJ (Tom's River) on another environmental case. (this was in 1998 I think.)