A Civil Action - Opening Scene

[@mathewkirk1748]

I love the little smirk of faked annoyance on that second offer shake-off by Travolta - that brought the extra half million right there.

[@VanillaLimeCoke]

Not as golden as "final" going to "please" His offer went from $1.2 million final to $1.5 million final to $2 million Please!!!! The first jumped $300,000, which was a 25% extra but still with final. Then the second jumped $500,000, which was an extra 33% from his second offer but $800,000 from his first offer which was an extra 67%. The cherry 🍒 on top is the fact that "final" turned into "Please" At first he's acting like you don't want to do this. This long agonizing court case. That's why he wrote Final the first 2 times. But in the end.....it's him who doesn't want to go through this. He knows he's a dead shark in the water and knows he's going to get destroyed in this case. That's why he wrote "please". Update: Extra cherry 🍒 bonus for Monk smiling at the end Update correction: Seems like he first turned down $1,000,000 before the day of the trial. That’s why the opposing lawyer wrote FINAL twice. So the initial offer went up to $1,200,000 (increase of $200,000 which is an extra 20%). Then it increased to $1,500,000 (increase of $300,000 from $1,200,000 which is an extra 25%, $500,000 from $1,000,000 which is an extra 50%) Then it increased to $2,000,000 (increase of $500,000 from $1,500,000 which is an extra 33%, $800,000 from $1,200,000 which is an extra 67%, $1,000,000 from the initial $1,000,000 offer which is another extra 100%).

[@jayhaapala6026]

This movie is genius and completely slept on

[@zevlovex6496]

with a killer line up of actors too

[@Steezboy3000]

I just wish it was a bit more satisfying in the end

[@Pat4ever.]

@@Steezboy3000 Well it being based on reality (as opposed to "based on reality") makes that point kind of moot

[@benjihuynh2970]

I can't even fathom the negotiating power lost when you immediately make an offer that's 300K higher after writing "final" on your first one.

[@vladtepes97]

what a killer opening scene!

[@joel8583]

+Chris R mmm hmm!

[@agoofyspacecadet]

I read this book & it was so good that I just couldn’t put it down & it took me 4 days to finish it!!!

[@earvinlarry8381]

AN AMAZING OPENING SCENE AND INTRO!!!!!

[@pinheadjohnny5190]

Love this movie all the way through.

[@MichaelSRQ]

BEST opening movie scene!

[@Cum007]

2M please

[@chiparoo222]

a movie with some redeeming learning value .... one I appreciate ..... Thanks

[@stephensmith1794]

I was in court for a litigation case. A taxi collided with my bus. Spinning into oncoming lanes hitting a mini bus coming from the airport and various other vehicles. They eventually settled, I asked did the court want to hear my story about events leading up to the crash but it was settled a like 40/60 settlement. Cheaper to settle up and next case.

[@ASAP17]

Travolta is Dominion Voting, the other side is FOX News. 😂

[@samsepiol05590]

Smartmatic lawsuit up next 🤑

[@pep590]

Black less than white...😂😂😂gotta love the olden days.

[@dwetick1]

Today, insurance companies never settle...litigate, litigate, until you go bankrupt...Schlictman got $800,000 just by saying NO...that's better than digging ditches or pounding nails in lumber anyday.

[@Bozewani]

the asshole settled NEVER SETTLE do not be intimidated by the big fat suits and oh yeah NEVER PLEAD GUILITY

[@russelloriely6343]

3 million for a coffee burn? OK 640k no no settled for a confidential amount. so your right sort of i guess?

[@glassessn]

The initial high amount was for punitive damages to McDonalds because the restaurant chain reportedly burned over 700 people with their excessively hot coffee.

[@nadieleimporta9889]

I lost my house in a fire. After litigating for 5 years. They paid and also became sanctioned with millions by the tax agencies due to a their own malicious tax calculations during the trial regarding the taxes associated to the amount offered. You just need to give the medicine they need and educate them.

[@Pat4ever.]

1. The insurance companies were not in court here, the corporate entities for the hospital were. 2. This was litigated, they were literally about to have opening statements until they settled on 2 million sitting next to each other 3. Schlictman would not have gone bankrupt here (as opposed to later in the film), the defendants could easily tell the jury would side against them by merely wheeling in the victim.

[@patriciadileonardo4620]

Jan Schlictman - Wobun et al - A dead child is worth the least of all

[@ricardopena3061]

Love Love this scene

[@ddragutzu]

Can anyone tell me the name of the actor Randolph Woodside Mass General ? 2:36

[@VanillaLimeCoke]

Why did the screen blink and change at 0:11 ???

[@fromthehaven94]

You could have thrown in the opening credits, you know.

[@josequinonesnunez3371]

Excelente, a good lawyer

[@7071t6]

10% = $200,000 / 20% = $400,000, 30% of 2 million is about what they get i believe, which would be around $500,000 dollars, yet the real person then has to live off the rest ie: 1.5 million dollars, hospital visits 24 hour per day every day of the year care, especially if they dont have a partner or worse any relatives left, which means they have to hire a nurse who specializes in the type of injury you have, you cant eat or shit without help, think about that for a moment, freedom to do what you want is everything and depending on what your job or career was before the accident, determining you income for the rest of your life ? Like the movie Philadelphia with Tom Hanks he got 10's of millions, yet was going to die ?

[@fnordranger]

This movie was set in the early 1980s (the motion to dismiss that's portrayed not long after this scene was heard in 1983). $2M then would be $5.6M in 2020 dollars. Assume the firm got 40%, that leaves the plaintiff with about $3.36M; that's over $100,000/year at a 3% rate of return if invested, leaving the principle untouched...

[@7071t6]

Love to know how much % the lawyers really get in most civil cases, like the opening scene i this movie and representation of a civil case. :)

[@rachelgrenadier3021]

Lawyers usually get one third of any settlement in personal injury cases.

[@Wiseask313]

We don’t know anything about the case in the opening scene except that it’s a case against Mass General, Harvard’s flagship hospital. From the appearance of the plaintiff in his wheelchair and the settlement offers from defense counsel, he was presumably a victim of medical negligence. My daughter was a trial lawyer in Boston and advised me that attorney’s fees in medical malpractice actions are capped by statute, though I don’t know if this cap was in effect during the time period depicted in the film. Today it’s 40% of the first $150,000.00 recovered, 33% of the next $150,000.00, 30% of the next $200,000.00, and 25% of any recovery greater than $500,000.00. In Philadelphia, where I’ve been a trial lawyer for over 40 years, and where there is no fee cap, most lawyers will not handle a med-mal case for less than 40%. These cases rarely settle before trial, they are incredibly labor intensive, and not uncommonly result in defense verdicts. As Jan Schlichtmann explains to one of his clients in the film: “Ms. Anderson, our firm is very small, three attorneys that's it, which means we can only take on so many cases at once and we have to be very careful on the ones we do take because we can't afford to lose, our clients pay nothing, we pay everything, and we only get paid back if we win or settle. You want an apology, and there's nothing more than I'd like to do, to get you that apology, but from who? Who's going to apologize to you and pay me? There has to be a defendant and one with very deep pockets; this is not an inexpensive case to try.”

[@daniellack3559]

@@Wiseask313 Thanks for your insight here.....

[@jeremybarcelo6486]

33.3% if it settles before trial, 40% if it reaches trial, 45% if appealed

[@jeremybarcelo6486]

Plus their expenses

[@michaelkoch6863]

Good movie

[@christianatchason5264]

Actuarial Science

[@7071t6]

In australia even going through civil courts system, you only going to get around 500K max, unless your a DR/ Lawyer or a Person with multiple PH'D's then you might get $800K, thats how it is, simply because most of the lawyers will settle out of court, but anyone with CASH will get anything they want, like a friend of mine got the highest pay out for a car crash and she was a intensive care nurse and it was her first week working at a major hospital and driving back had a real bad car crash and got 1.4 million:, yet all she lost was one eye and she can speak and talk normal, just as before, so basically the court and judges were convinced that she would be like when she was first diagnosed, brain damage to the point she would need 24 hours care, yet she drives and does everything noraly, or at least as she did before the accident, sure she suffered bad head injuries, but still, its about the future, can she work she sure can, but with that much payout, which her parents look after the funds, still she dies or they name a financial administrator, which all of her family are funked up on ICE as well, meaning that if any of her brothers get hold of those funds say good by to the living standard shes got now ? Also the lawyers got around 300K each, yet it was the highest payout for a car crash insurance payout to date in australia ?

[@MajorAddiction]

"all she lost was one eye" lol

[@lagimmediafiles6478]

Brilliant movie

[@TonyKanameKuran]

Holy Blue Collar!!!!

[@7071t6]

Loved this movie and its a shame that more of Johns Movies are not online for free, totally free? NOT Paying one cent to watch it, but sure will tape it if it comes on TV again. :)

[@OgyShepherd]

hai,is anybody know where can i have full movie for civil action?

[@7071t6]

Love this movie, tells it like it really is, fight fo the real truth against large orgs with massive bank accounts and you will lose, unless your really have the funds in a small law firm and real hard evidence against the companies ,otherwise you will lose and the same going up government orgs as well, which is why jan ends up with nothing lost everything and has a portable radio, no tv and eats locally out of his apartment and does most of legal work in libraries and court rooms which has legal resources books etc. :) But good to see him working for morgan and morgan in boston. :) Now 2 million for just this case, so in reality the Pollution case is worth 100's of millions of dollars based on the opening scene in the film, Plus people have died and are poisoned all day every day, till its cleaned upm, which is why the EPa took the case and won and no business will go up against the government with unlimited funds, look at loreal products they got fined over 500 million and they just paid and the same with apple and other phone manufacturers like sony who got sued by sony because of breaches on intellectual property and patents based on new touch screen phone systems etc. 100's of million dollar court cases. Ericsson is a case as well:)

[@stanburk7392]

Only paart where you deviate from what happens is large corporations going against government. what happens there is large corporation puts money into polititions pocket and new laws apear and pressure applied to make sure this never gets to court.

[@antoniozamora5574]

oh okay crappy video intro thought it was my internet

[@thomascampbell350]

Woah it’s Frank Gallagher

[@ricardopena3061]

Love Love this scene