Woburn Toxic Trial Chronology

For most complicated cases, like the Woburn Toxic Trial, it is not uncommon for the trial process to span several years. Although the Woburn trial took place from March through July 1986, the trial process extended from 1979, when families of leukemia victims first began to organize, into 1990, when the last appeals submitted by the plaintiffs' attorneys were denied. Tabulated below is a chronology of entire trial process in the case that eventually became Ann Anderson et al. v. W.R. Grace & Co. et al. Accounts of many of these events can be read in the collection of newspaper articles.

1979

May 22, 1979	City of Woburn closes Wells G and H because of identified contamination.
October 4, 1979	Rev. Bruce Young begins organizing families who have had leukemia diagnosed for one or more family members. [end td]

1980

August, 1980	First meeting between attorneys and families with members having been diagosed with leukemia.[end td]
October, 1980	Families engage an attorney (Mulligan)

1981

May 1981

Jan Schlichtmann meets with families on behalf of Mulligan.

1982

May 14, 1982	Family's file complaint in Massachusetts Superior Court for Middlesex alleging contamination of Wells G and H by Beatrice (John J. Riley Tannery) and W.R. Grace (Cryovac) causing the unusual occurrence of leukemia in Woburn. [end td]
May 19, 1982	Summons served on Grace and Beatrice regarding the family's complaint.
June 9, 1982	W.R. Grace files answers to the complaint in state court.
October 7, 1982[end td]	Plaintiffs initiate pretrial discovery presenting interrogatories to W.R. Grace and Beatrice.
November 9, 1982	Rule 11 invoked by W.R. Grace.
December 15, 1982	Rule 11 hearing with Judge Skinner.

1983

January 6, 1983	Second hearing on Rule 11 motion.
February 7, 1983	W.R. Grace answers to interrogatories (initial response)
December 1983	Formation of Schlichtmann, Conway and Crowley.

1984

May 18, 1984	W.R. Grace requests summary judgment.
July 25, 1984	Judge Skinner denies summary judgment.
September 5, 1984	Parties begin scheduling order for depositions. [end td]
October 26, 1984	Judge Skinner allows impleader of UniFirst.

1985

January 7, 1985	Beginning of depositions; Schlichtmann, Conway and Crowley initiate assessment of Riley property.
September 1985	WGBH and Chedd-Angier move to intervene to use deposition information make the Woburn story into a documentary.
December 1985	CBS, Inc. files a Complaint of Intervenor for case information regarding their development of a '60 Minutes' segment regarding Woburn; first deposition of George Pinder, the plaintiffs hydrogeology expert.

1986

[end tr]

January 1986	Depositions of plaintiff's and defendant's other experts. Depositions finalized on January 22, 1986.
January 29, 1986	First day of Pretrial conference, Judge Skinner announces intent to divide the trial into separate phases, the first phase requiring demonstration of the defendants contamination of the Wells.
February 17, 1986	First day of Jury Impanelment, jury selection continues through February 25.
March 2, 1986	'60 Minutes' airs segment titled "What Killed Jimmy Anderson".
March 10, 1986[end td]	Trial begins with plaintiffs presenting their case.
June 2, 1986	Defendants move for directed verdicts. Defendants experts begin testimony.
June 9, 1986	Judge Skinner's ruling on directed verdicts.
July 1, 1986	The jury visits the Woburn site.
July 14, 1986[end td]	Closing arguments.
July 15, 1986[end td]	Judge Skinner provides jurors a wordy questionnaire regarding the timing of contamination and specific contaminants that affected wells G and H.
July 28, 1986	Jurors reach verdict: Beatrice acquitted, Grace found potentially liable for contamination of Wells. Phase 1 of the trial ends. The next phase, demonstrating cause of injury by the defendant (Grace) is scheduled to begin in September.
September 21, 1986[end td]	Phase 2 of the trial begins.
September 22, 1986	Judge Skinner announces grant of new trial for Grace. Plaintiffs and Grace reach a settlement. Skinner dismisses the jury.
October 31, 1986	Plaintiffs file an appeal against Beatrice.

1987

1987	US Geological Survey releases "Area of Influence and Zone of Contribution to Superfund Site Wells G & H, Woburn Massachusetts.
September 1987	Plaintiffs made aware of the 1983 "Yankee" report.
October 26, 1987	Hearings on plaintiffs motion for vacation of judgment regarding Beatrice.

1988

January 22, 1988	Judge Skinner denies motion for new trial against Beatrice.
January 25, 1988	Plaintiffs appeal Judge Skinner's ruling against retrial of Beatrice.
July 27, 1988[end td]	Oral arguments in the Court of Appeals regarding requests for new trial.
December 22, 1988	Judge Skinner issues further orders regarding requests of appeals. [end td]

1990

[end tr]

April 30, 1990

United States Court of Appeals denies plaintiffs request for a rehearing the case.

1991

July 1991

EPA finalized as a $69.5 million settlement with responsible parties for the cleanup of Wells G & H Superfund site. The responsible parties include Beatrice, Grace, UniFirst and Riley.

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