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A Civil Action is a 1998 American legal drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian, based on the 1995 nonfiction book of the same name by Jonathan Harr. The film stars John Travolta as personal injury attorney Jan Schlichtmann, with supporting performances from Robert Duvall, James Gandolfini, Dan Hedaya, John Lithgow, William H. Macy, Kathleen Quinlan, and Tony Shalhoub. The narrative dramatizes the true story of a landmark environmental lawsuit in Woburn, Massachusetts, during the 1980s, in which residents alleged that industrial contamination of the local water supply—specifically with the chemical trichloroethylene—had led to multiple cases of leukemia and other serious health issues. The case, formally titled Anne Anderson, et al. v. Cryovac, Inc., et al., became one of the most high-profile toxic tort lawsuits of its time.