PG&E had a duty of care that they did not uphold. A duty of care is the duty of all persons as established by tort law to exercise a reasonable amount of care in their dealings with others. Failure to do so constitutes the tort of negligence (p.114, Miller). The basic idea is that people are
During Erin’s discovery of the facts of the case we begin to see the breakdown of the ethical values of PG&E. The dramatization focuses on the deception that PG&E has cast over the inhabitants of Hinkley, California. For years, the company has been polluting the environment with a known deadly toxin, Chromium six. The toxin seeped into natural underground water reservoirs then into the unsuspecting town
The movie Erin Brockovich (2000) depicts one of the most recognized cases of toxic tort cases in the United States. According to an article in Entertainment Editors “a toxic tort is a special type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical caused the plaintiff’s toxic injury or disease” (freelibrary web site, 2000)
Oliver Stone’s 1994 classic, Natural Born Killers, excited and traumatized its audiences while also causing controversy. The tale of white trash lovers caught up in a realm of chaos that includes a continuous murderous rampage from state to state, draws in audiences with its graphic violence and riveting pulse inducing music. Yet, the message of this film seems to be much deeper than just exposing audiences to yet another chaotic action movie filled with guns, blood and mayhem. Stone’s Natural Born Killers examines the subject of media’s investment in serial murder very thoroughly, and so it seems likely that it has the potential to offer a more rigorous interrogation of the nature of the American public’s fascination with the serial
There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Erin has the responsibility to feed and educate her three children and she has a general distrust of people. She begins by forcing her lawyer Ed Masry to give her a secretarial job after he failed to get her a settlement from an auto accident.
In the early 1970s, Silkwood worked as a lab analyst in an Oklahoma Kerr-McGee plant which manufactured plutonium pins used as fuel for nuclear reactors (The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004).. Plutonium, a radioactive chemical element, is known to be highly toxic and carcinogenic. Silkwood, an elected union official and outspoken critic of Kerr-McGee’s health and safety practices, began collecting and recording information to substantiate her charges that employees at the plant were dangerously exposed to toxic chemicals. In early November 1974, Silkwood was
In the film Erin Brockovich, several different social theories can be related to the storyline of the film. Although different, theories from Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber can all adequately describe what happens in the film. The film is about a small law firm that takes on an extremely powerful organization, PG & E (Pacific Gas & Electric), on the account that they were knowingly polluting Hinkley, California’s water supply and harming the citizens. From Karl Marx, the film can be explained through his base-superstructure model of society, with PG & E serving as the powerful base, and the rest of society in Hinkley, CA serving as the superstructure. From Emile Durkheim, this movie can be portrayed through his
While they acknowledge that they are dumping a chemical into the tap water, they lie to the residents of Hinkley by telling them that it is a different type of chromium, chromium III, that isn’t dangerous. Lying is the simplest and biggest ethical mistake there can be as it is always intentional and causes harm to the other side who believes what is being said. Not only does PG&E lie about the type of chromium being dumped, they also try to cover it up through various methods. First, they have paid the medical expenses of people in the town as a way to show that they are doing their part to help, when really this is a small expense compared with what the ethical dumping of chromium or an alternate form of chemical would consist of. Secondly, they are bribing the people with large amounts of money to buy their homes and the land they are on, which holds the dangerous chromium. Once again this is a cheaper way to hide their issue compared to the cost of having to fix their practice or losing their company. They even try to give out large amounts of money to stop the case when they know that one is being started against them. The people of Hinkley have trouble seeing past this, because of the good that PG&E does for the community overall with jobs and their economy, etc. This is an issue with Utilitarianism ethics. It is hard to see past what is good overall for the most majority of people and realize the negative effects this overall good is having for some people.
Ed Concannon is a distinguished and deceitful lawyer defending the hospital and doctors Towler and Marks. There would be no one to stand in his way of another victory; he pays off witnesses and hired Laura Fischer, who sought out Frank romantically to get insight into his strategies. Laura fell hard for Frank and her deceitful actions became more than she could handle. She let Ed Concannon know and he said to her:
start he is a very strong man and he was quite emotional as well, but
Stand By Me is a movie based on a novel by Stephen King. It tells the story of four preteens, who during a boring summer day, embark on a journey to find the body of a dead twelve year old, who has been missing by news accounts, but known to them, to be lying in the woods near a river bank. The story is told as an historical narrative about the lives and relationships of the four main characters in this movie, Gordy, Chris, Teddy, and Vern. In this essay, I will discuss how communication, and self-concept, affects the characters, and their interactions.
- The antagonist in the story, he is the son of Marcus Aurelius. Commodus is an arrogant man who lusts for power which led him into killing his own father and would do anything to get rid of anyone that may threaten his claim to the throne.
Since 1968, there have been at least 25 films made that portray the events of the Vietnam War. Historians have to ask themselves when watching these films, "Did the fictional character represent historical figures accurately? Is this how a soldier would react in this situation?" The point of view of the director of the film can change with simple alterations in camera angles. For example, a view from the ground of a battle seen can show how the innocent people had the war in their own backyards. The view from a helicopter can show Viet Cong firing rounds at American troops and the troops can't tell the difference between the innocent and the enemy. The audience feels empathy and sympathy for the person from whose point of view the
knowing that Andy is vulnerable, gets him on the tar duty and seems to take him
In the Film Shawshank Redemption (1994) directed by Frank Darabont, Andy was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife and is shipped off to Shawshank prison. The prison is run by Warden Norton who is a corrupt leader. When Andy first arrives at the prison he is very timid and shy. As the film progresses, Andy breaks out of his shell and starts building relationships with Red and the other prisoners. Throughout the film we learn that Andy is an ex banker who Norton enlist to help him with his taxes and balancing the books. Soon enough Andy realizes that Norton was laundering money. The movie displays many of the concepts that we have learned throughout Organizational Behavior textbook written by Cohen Et Al. Throughout the paper I will be talking about how Shawshank Redemption relates to the concepts we have learned in the textbook specifically in chapter 8 and 10.