Anderson v. Cryovac

E662015

civil action environmental contamination case lawsuit

Anderson v. Cryovac is a landmark environmental contamination lawsuit over industrial pollution of drinking water in Woburn, Massachusetts, that became widely known through the book and film "A Civil Action."

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All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
Anderson v. Cryovac canonical	2
Anderson et al. v. Beatrice Foods Co.	1
Anderson et al. v. W.R. Grace & Co.	1
Anderson v. Cryovac, Inc.	1
Anne Anderson et al. v. Cryovac, Inc., et al.	1
civil lawsuit Anderson et al. v. W.R. Grace & Co. et al.	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7393722 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Anderson v. Cryovac
Context triple: [A Civil Action, legalCaseInvolved, Anderson v. Cryovac]

A. Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio
Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio is a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that narrowed the standards for proving employment discrimination under Title VII, prompting Congress to later revise those standards in the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
B. Cook v. Gralike
Cook v. Gralike is a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited states’ power over federal elections by holding that Missouri could not use ballot notations to influence voters’ choices for congressional candidates.
C. Lucas v. Earl
Lucas v. Earl is a landmark 1930 U.S. Supreme Court tax law case that established the principle that income is taxed to the person who earns it, regardless of contractual arrangements to split or assign that income.
D. McDonald v. Smith
McDonald v. Smith is a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the First Amendment’s Petition Clause does not grant absolute immunity from libel suits for statements made in petitions to government officials.
E. United States v. Darby
United States v. Darby is a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld federal labor regulations under the Commerce Clause and marked a broad expansion of federal power over economic activity.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Anderson v. Cryovac
Target entity description: Anderson v. Cryovac is a landmark environmental contamination lawsuit over industrial pollution of drinking water in Woburn, Massachusetts, that became widely known through the book and film "A Civil Action."

A. Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio
Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio is a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that narrowed the standards for proving employment discrimination under Title VII, prompting Congress to later revise those standards in the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
B. Cook v. Gralike
Cook v. Gralike is a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited states’ power over federal elections by holding that Missouri could not use ballot notations to influence voters’ choices for congressional candidates.
C. Lucas v. Earl
Lucas v. Earl is a landmark 1930 U.S. Supreme Court tax law case that established the principle that income is taxed to the person who earns it, regardless of contractual arrangements to split or assign that income.
D. McDonald v. Smith
McDonald v. Smith is a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the First Amendment’s Petition Clause does not grant absolute immunity from libel suits for statements made in petitions to government officials.
E. United States v. Darby
United States v. Darby is a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld federal labor regulations under the Commerce Clause and marked a broad expansion of federal power over economic activity.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	civil action ⓘ environmental contamination case ⓘ lawsuit ⓘ
allegation	contaminated municipal wells G and H in Woburn ⓘ defendants improperly disposed of toxic chemicals ⓘ
attorneyForPlaintiffs	Jan Schlichtmann ⓘ
causeOfAction	negligence ⓘ personal injury ⓘ property damage ⓘ wrongful death ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
court	United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ⓘ
defendant	Beatrice Foods Co. ⓘ linked to: Beatrice Foods Cryovac, Inc. ⓘ W. R. Grace & Co. ⓘ linked to: W. R. Grace and Company
filingDate	1979 ⓘ
fullName	Anne Anderson et al. v. Cryovac, Inc., et al. ⓘ linked to: Anderson v. Cryovac
healthEffectAlleged	childhood leukemia ⓘ other serious illnesses ⓘ
impact	influenced later environmental and toxic tort litigation strategies ⓘ raised public awareness of groundwater contamination risks ⓘ
inPopularCulture	depicted in Jonathan Harr’s nonfiction book "A Civil Action" ⓘ linked to: A Civil Action dramatized in the 1998 film "A Civil Action" ⓘ
jurisdiction	United States federal court ⓘ linked to: U.S. federal courts
legalIssue	allocation of liability among multiple polluters ⓘ causation between chemical exposure and leukemia cluster ⓘ
legalSignificance	illustrated difficulties of proving causation in environmental cases ⓘ important case in U.S. toxic tort litigation ⓘ landmark environmental contamination lawsuit ⓘ
location	Woburn, Massachusetts ⓘ
outcome	no final jury verdict on damages due to settlement ⓘ settlement with Beatrice Foods Co. after appeal ⓘ settlement with W. R. Grace & Co. ⓘ
phase	damages phase ⓘ liability phase ⓘ
plaintiff	Anne Anderson ⓘ families from East Woburn, Massachusetts ⓘ
pollutant	perchloroethylene ⓘ trichloroethylene ⓘ
relatedInfrastructure	Woburn municipal wells G and H ⓘ
relatedPlace	Aberjona River Valley ⓘ linked to: Aberjona River
relatedWork	A Civil Action (book) ⓘ linked to: A Civil Action A Civil Action (film) ⓘ linked to: A Civil Action
subjectMatter	groundwater contamination ⓘ industrial pollution of municipal drinking water wells ⓘ
timePeriod	1970s–1980s ⓘ
trialStartDate	1986 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

A Civil Action → legalCaseInvolved → Anderson v. Cryovac ⓘ

Woburn toxic waste contamination cases → significantEvent → civil lawsuit Anderson et al. v. W.R. Grace & Co. et al. ⓘ