The movie, “A Civil Action” is based on a true story that took place in the year
ID: 119867 • Letter: T
Question
The movie, “A Civil Action” is based on a true story that took place in the year 1980 in Woburn Massachusetts. It showed how hard it was to prove an environmental pollution hazard in the court of law. How different is making the case in legal court versus making the case in the court of public opinion?
The response below answers the question. Can someone please rephrase this:
Making a case whether it is before a legal court or a court of public opinion will always be a difficult task even though they have different standards. The legal court is said to be where documents or evidence is usually between a lawyer, law offices and a court.2 The evidence brought forward in the court of law are usually facts. For example: In the movie, “A Civil Action”, families could not testify because the judge was not convinced that the affected families testimonies was enough to draw a verdict. On the other hand, a court of public opinion influences public support that is one-sided that heavily relies on the news media.2 Therefore, I believe that making a case in a legal court is more pressure than making a case in the court of public opinion because one must bring facts and hard-core evidence as opposed to having a good cover-up story. However, even though it is more pressure, I will rather state my case in the legal court where there is not much outside interferences within my case.
Explanation / Answer
To present a court case, whether it is a legal court or a court of public opinion, will always be a difficult task even though they have very different standards. The legal court is a judicial system where the arguments are made usually between a lawyer, law offices and a court. Here judgments and arguments are based on actual documents or evidence presented in the court. The evidence presented in the court of law must be actual and verifiable, as falsification may lead to perjury. For example: In the movie, “A Civil Action”, families could not testify because the judge was not convinced that the affected families testimonies was enough to draw a verdict. This included the authority of the judge in deciding what documents are crucial to the trail and can dismiss certain documents according to the scope of the trail.
On the other hand, a court of public opinion, is directly influenced by the public support, that at times is one-sided, as it heavily relies on the news media. Therefore, I believe that making a case in a legal court is more demanding than making a case in the court of public opinion because one must provide factual and documented evidences to support your claim as opposed to having a good well broadcasted cover-up story. However, even though it is more demanding, I will rather state my case in the legal court since the outside interferences will not influence the judgment in my case.