The Runaway Jury
The judgment ( Original title: The Runaway Jury) is a novel by American author John Grisham in 1996 In 2003 the book was made into a film. .
Action
In Biloxi, a small town in the state of Mississippi, a process takes place, which attracted worldwide attention. The widow of a deceased smoker's lung cancer has sued a tobacco company for damages. The judge allows the jury from the outside world foreclose because they have the feeling to be continuously monitored and threatened.
It turns out that the tobacco companies have a fund established by means of which they intend to manipulate the process via the jury in their favor. Nicholas Easter, one of the jurors tried using his girlfriend outside the tobacco industry to cheat the money from this fund, by promising the tobacco industry a favorable judgment. Nicholas succeed, little by some to remove him unpopular jurors from the jury and to be replaced by his agreeable substitute judges.
Finally, the deal is perfect and the man who leads the manipulation of the jury on behalf of the tobacco industry, pays the required money. Nicholas Easter convinced then, however successful the jury to convict the tobacco company to a high compensation payment, as the parents of his girlfriend were also died of lung cancer.
Interpretation
The plaintiff in this case sought to create a precedent that allows subsequent class actions other nicotine victims to obtain compensation from the court or out of court damages. The defense of the defendant tobacco companies tried to prevent exactly this with all legal and illegal means. This topic was also addressed in Grisham's book The judge. There it was, as in Grisham's book The blame class actions in the pharmaceutical sector. In the judgment it continues to be about the vulnerability of the American legal system against manipulation by a corrupt member of the jury, while the judge, a judge accepts money from the winning party. Although this judge not corrupt, but was specifically selected by the applicant's lawyer for the case. So, in both books, it comes down to manipulation of the legal system in general.
Filming
The novel was made into a film by director Gary Fleder 2003 and also published The judgment under the title. The main roles were Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack and Rachel Weisz. However, the tobacco is replaced by the arms industry, resulting in the film to a trial of a weapons company.