Victoria M.

Scragg

Professor Raul A. Carrillo, Jr.

BLAW 5306 – The Ethical Toolkit, “A Civil Action”

05 September 2017

Friedman: Free Market Ethics (Defense)

Friedman believed in a free market system; a market economy based on supply and

demand with limited government control. This theory suggests employees maintain a direct

responsibility to their employers and stockholders to maximize profits while conforming to the

basic rules of the game, which is to say, engage in open and free competition without deception

or fraud. (Terry Halbert) Friedman believed that a company’s only social responsibility was to

increase profits for the owners and stockholders.

Throughout the film, Facher (Beatrice Foods), attempted to avoid trial, keep witnesses

from testifying, and persuade Schlictmann to accept a settlement. Following several deposition

interviews, with the plaintiff’s witnesses, Facher stated, “Those people must never testify.”

(Zaillian) He said this because he, himself, believed them. He empathized with their loss and

knew if they took the stand the plaintiff’s case would prevail. Facher’s responsibility as a defense

attorney was to prevent or minimize his client’s loss of money. Friedman believed in Free

Market theory which suggests employees maintain a direct responsibility to their employers and

stockholders to maximize profits while conforming to the basic rules of the game. (Terry

Halbert) Facher’s actions to prevent financial loss was equally as important as gaining profits.

Friedman would support the efforts of the defense to protect the monetary value of the

businesses they represent.

 Facher’s offering of a settlement, his strategic approach to secure a settlement with

Schlictmann, and the eventual sabotage of plaintiff witness testimony were methods used to

protect his clients. There was a suspicion that Facher colluded with the judge to prevent plaintiff

witness testimony. Were Facher’s questionable methods conforming to the basic rules of the

game? Friedman would likely agree that they were not, unless the rules in law are the same as

rule in love and war – all is fair in love and war. Facher is a cleaver character and can be very

persuasive. He is talented, experienced and capable of planting ideas into one’s mind and

tricking them into believing it was their idea all along. If this was the case, Facher did his duty.

His only social responsibility was to preserve the money of his client, but did he play within the

rules of the game?

Cheeseman (Grace), used dishonesty and questionable methods as well. He attempted to

influence Grace employees to limit their testimony. He made repeated comments during

depositions to Grace employees stating, “You don’t have to answer this question. You don’t

have to answer these types of questions.” (Zaillian) Later, Cheeseman attempted to persuade a

Grace employee to provide names of those involved, attempting to force the employee to become

the one thing he didn’t want to be, a rat. Cheeseman could not escape the amount of evidence

emerging against Grace and sought a settlement. Grace, was not willing to cover Schlictmann’s

settlement demands. Cheeseman acted as Friedman might have and walked out the door.

In the end, the case would settle for eight million dollars. The Grace owner never claimed

innocence, but did what Friedman believed was their only social responsibility and that was to

gain profits, in other words, prevent losses. His goal was to prevent a guilty verdict at a trial to

ensure similar lawsuits don’t follow. Friedman would agree with how the defense for both Grace
and Beatrice acted. Both did what was in the best interest of the companies. They focused on

one thing and one thing alone, preserving their client’s financial welfare.
Works Cited

A Civil Action. By Steven Zaillian. Dir. Steven Zaillian. Perf. Robert Duvall John Travolta. Prod. Scott
Rudin. Buena Vista Pictures, 1998.

Terry Halbert, Elaine Injulli. "Law, Ethics, and Business: An Introduction." Law & Ethics in the
Business Environment. Eighth. Cengage Learning, 2015.