Erin Brockovich (born Pattee ; June 22, 1960) is an American law officer and environmental activist, who, despite lacking formal legal education, is instrumental in establishing a case against Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG & amp; E) from California in 1993. His successful lawsuit was the subject of a 2000 movie, Erin Brockovich , starring Julia Roberts. Since then, Brockovich has become a media personality as well, hosting the TV series The American Challenge with Erin Brockovich at ABC and Final Justice on Territorial Reality. He is president of Brockovich Research & amp; Consultation. He also works as a consultant for Girardi & amp; Keese, New York Weitz & amp; Luxenberg, which focuses on personal injury claims for asbestos exposure, and Shine Lawyers in Australia.
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He was born Erin Pattee in Lawrence, Kansas, daughter of Betty Jo (born O'Neal; a journalist, and Frank Pattee (1924-2011), a industrial engineers and soccer players. He has two brothers, Frank Jr. and Thomas (1954-1992), and a sister, Jodie. He graduated from Lawrence High School, then attended Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, and graduated with an Associate in Applied Arts Degree from Wade College in Dallas, Texas. He worked as a management trainee for Kmart in 1981 but quit after a few months and entered a beauty contest. She won the Miss Pacific Coast in 1981 and left the beauty contest after winning. She has lived in California since 1982.
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Pacific Gas and Gas Litigation
The case allegedly pollutes drinking water with hexavalent chromium (also written as "Chromium VI", "Cr-VI" or "Cr-6") in the southern California town of Hinkley. In the center of the case is the facility, the Hinkley compressor station, built in 1952 as part of a natural gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 1952 and 1966, PG & amp; E uses hexavalent chromium in the cooling tower system to fight corrosion. Wastewater is discharged into a striped pond at the site, and some seep into the ground water, affecting the area near the plant about 2 times 1 mile (3.2 x 1.6 km). The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) placed the PG & E site under its regulation in 1968.
The case was settled in 1996 at a price of US $ 333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct lawsuit in US history. Masya & amp; Vititoe, the law firm where Brockovich was a law officer, received $ 133.6 million from the settlement, and Brockovich himself was given a $ 2.5 million bonus.
A study released in 2010 by the California Cancer Registry showed that cancer rates at Hinkley "remained unremarkable from 1988 to 2008". An epidemiologist involved in the study said that 196 cases of cancer reported during the latest survey of 1996 to 2008 were fewer than he expected based on regional demographics and cancer rates.
In 2016, the average Cr-6 level in Hinkley was listed as 1.19 ppb with a peak of 3.09 ppb. For comparison, PG & amp; E Topock Compressor Station on the California-Arizona border averaged 7.8 ppb with a peak of 31.8 ppb based on Background Study of PG & E;
Other litigation
Working with Edward L. Masry, a lawyer based in Thousand Oaks, California, Brockovich went on to participate in other anti-pollution lawsuits. One lawsuit accused the Whitman Company of chromium contamination in Willits, California. Other, 1,200 registered plaintiffs, alleged contamination near PG & amp; E's Kettleman Hills compressor station in Kings County, California, along the same pipe as the Hinkley site. Kettleman's shirt was set for $ 335 million in 2006.
In 2003, Brockovich received a $ 430,000 settlement from two parties and an undisclosed amount from a third party to settle his lawsuit with allegations of poisonous mushrooms at his home in Agoura Hills, California. After experiencing problems with fungal contamination in his own home in the Conejo Valley, Brockovich became a leading activist and educator in this field.
Brockovich and Masry filed suit against the Beverly Hills Unified School District in 2003, where the district was accused of damaging the health and safety of its students by allowing contractors to operate a group of oil wells on campus. Brockovich and Masry allege that 300 cases of cancer are associated with oil wells. Subsequent research and epidemiological investigations failed to corroborate substantial relationships, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer presented a summary assessment of the plaintiff. In May 2007, the School District announced that it would have to be paid $ 450,000 in reimbursement for legal fees.
Brockovich assists in the filing of a lawsuit against Prime Tanning Corp of St. Louis. Joseph, Missouri, in April 2009. The lawsuit claims that mud waste from leather production, containing high levels of hexavalent chromium, is distributed to farmers in northwest Missouri for use as fertilizer in their fields. It is believed to be a potential cause of a large number of abnormal brain tumors (70 since 1996) around the town of Cameron, Missouri, which is currently under investigation by the EPA.
In June 2009, Brockovich began investigating contaminated water cases in Midland, Texas. "Significant amounts" of hexavalent chromium are found in water over 40 homes in the area, some of which are now equipped with state-monitored filters on their water supply. Brockovich said, "The only difference between here and Hinkley is that I see a higher level here than I saw at Hinkley."
In 2012, Brockovich was involved in the mysterious case of 14 students from LeRoy, New York, who began reporting confusing medical symptoms including tics and speech impediment. Brockovich believes environmental pollution from the deforestation of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1970 is the cause and test conducted in the area. Brockovich should have returned to town to present his invention, but never did; Meanwhile, the student doctors determine the cause is a mass psychogenic illness and that exposure to the media makes it worse. No environmental causes were found after retesting and students increased after media attention subsided. In early 2016, Brockovich engaged in potential litigation of Southern California Gas for a major methane gas leak from an underground storage facility near the Porter Ranch community in northern Los Angeles (see Aliso Canyon gas leak).
Awards
- Honorary Doctor of Honor and speaker at Lewis & amp; Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, in May 2005.
- Honorary Doctors for Letters and Early Human Speakers at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, on May 5, 2007.
- Master of Honorary Arts, Business Communications, from Jones International University, Centennial, Colorado.
Movies
Brockovich's work in bringing litigation to Pacific Gas and Electric is the focus of the 2000 feature film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts in the title role. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Actress in the Main Role, Best Actor in Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay Written for Screenplay. Roberts won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich himself has a cameo role as a waitress named Julia R.
Brockovich has a broader role in the 2012 documentary Last Call in the Oasis , which focuses on not only water pollution but also the overall state of water scarcity related to water policy in the United States.
Messages
Brockovich's book, titled Take It From Me: Life's Struggle But You Can Win , (ISBN 978-0071383790) was published in 2001.
References
External links
- Erin Brockovich's Official Website
- Brockovich BrockovichBlog.com report
- Brockovich I-Village
- Official MySpace Erin Brockovich
- Biography of Erin Brockovich in Biography Channel
- Erin Brockovich on IMDb
- Night with Erin Brockovich in Sydney, hosted by Climate Change Coalition 2007
- Details about the Hinkley case at AwesomeStories.com
- Are Hinkley Residents Strongly Winning? at salon.com
- Weitz & amp; Luxenberg PC
- Shine Australian Lawyers
- The Community of Environmental Justice
- Erin Brockovich's Video is produced by Maker: Women Who Make America
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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