The film begins in 1993, with Erin Brockovich, an unemployed single mother of three, struggling to make ends meet. Recently injured in a car accident involving a doctor, she hires lawyer Ed Masry to represent her in a personal injury lawsuit. Though Ed is optimistic about their chances, Erin’s fiery demeanor and explosive testimony in court lead to a loss, leaving her devastated. When Ed fails to return her calls, she takes matters into her own hands. One day, Ed arrives at his office to find Erin working there without permission. Confronting him, she insists he promised things would work out and that she needed a job to survive. Moved by her determination, Ed reluctantly hires her.
Assigned mundane tasks, Erin stumbles upon a real estate case involving the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The case centers on Donna Jensen, a Hinkley, California, resident whose property PG&E is offering to buy. Erin is puzzled by the inclusion of medical records in the file and decides to dig deeper. She visits Donna, who reveals that PG&E has been providing medical care for her family. Donna mentions her tumors and her husband’s Hodgkin’s lymphoma, attributing the support to PG&E’s use of “chromium.” Erin’s curiosity is piqued when Donna casually mentions that PG&E claims the chromium is safe.
Erin begins investigating the case, uncovering troubling evidence that the groundwater in Hinkley is contaminated with toxic hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen. Despite PG&E’s assurances to the community that the chromium is harmless, Erin suspects a cover-up. Her obsession with the case leads her to spend days away from the office, resulting in Ed firing her. However, when he reviews the files and realizes the significance of her findings, he reinstates her.
Rehired and emboldened, Erin throws herself into the investigation, visiting residents in Hinkley and gradually winning their trust. She discovers numerous cases of serious illnesses, including tumors and cancers, all treated by PG&E’s doctors. The residents, unaware of the danger, dismiss the illnesses as coincidental. Erin pieces together a pattern, connecting the health problems to the contaminated water.
The Jensens’ case grows into a potential class-action lawsuit, but Erin and Ed face a major hurdle: the evidence directly implicates only PG&E’s local Hinkley plant, not the corporate headquarters. To prevent PG&E from stalling the case with endless appeals, Ed proposes resolving the matter through binding arbitration. However, this requires agreement from the majority of the 634 plaintiffs. Erin returns to Hinkley and tirelessly convinces every single plaintiff to join the arbitration.
During this time, a former PG&E employee, Charles Embry, approaches Erin. He confesses that he and his cousin, who recently died from exposure to the contaminated water, were tasked with destroying incriminating documents at PG&E. Feeling remorseful, Embry provides Erin with a crucial memo from 1966. The memo reveals that PG&E’s corporate headquarters knew about the contamination for decades, deliberately concealed it, and instructed the Hinkley plant to keep it a secret.
Armed with this damning evidence, Erin and Ed present their case in court. The judge orders PG&E to pay a historic settlement of $333 million, the largest ever awarded in a direct-action lawsuit. The money is to be distributed among the plaintiffs, finally bringing justice to the Hinkley community.
In the aftermath, Ed calls Erin into his office to hand her a bonus check for her extraordinary work. When Erin begins to protest, assuming he has shortchanged her, Ed surprises her by revealing the amount: $2 million. Shocked and overwhelmed, Erin is left speechless, realizing the magnitude of her impact—not just on her life, but on the lives of hundreds of others.
Leave a Reply