U.S.A v. General Electric Co.

Client:

Peter Biagetti

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Poppeo, PC
Boston, MA

 

Case Summary:

 

Using its authority under CERCLA, the federal government sought to recover cleanup costs from GE for the disposal of hazardous waste found at the Fletcher Paint site in New Hampshire. GE argued that between 1953 and 1967, GE sold industrial byproducts to Flethcer Paint, which Fletcher Paint then used as a plasticizing ingredient in the manufacture of paint and for other commercial purposes. GE contended that any contamination at the Fletcher site resulted from improper disposal by Fletcher of the chemicals sold a decade before, rather than the the arms-length sale of their industrial byproduct.

 

The Challenge:

 

WIN Interactive's challenge was to visually depict the ongoing business relationship GE and Fletcher maintained during the years of 1953 and 1967. In addition, WIN Interactive needed to pull together and summarize the contradictory statements, both verbal and written, made by the major players over the decades since the initial sale by GE.

 

 

The WIN Solution:

 

• BriefCase: Our BriefCase tool provided the trial team with instant access to all of their documents. Once selected,we easily displayed the documents on the screen with annotations and pre-set callouts. Due to the fact that BriefCase is fully integrated into the WIN Studio, we could access any document from any one of our presentation tools, including the many timelines and summary charts used in trial.

• TimeSpan: We created a custom, interactive timeline depicting the business relationship between GE and Fletcher. For every year the timeline displayed the price per barrel of product, the number of barrels shipped, and the number of shipments. We supported each piece of data with documents, via BriefCase, solidifying the accuracy of the timeline. In addition, we divided the timeline into two channels, one for Fletcher and one for GE. We then displayed important events related to each party in those channels, and each event also contained document support via BriefCase.

• Interactive Document Presentations: We also created a unique customized presentation based on a critical letter sent from Fletcher to GE. The presentation digitally highlighted statements in the letter and compared those statements to contradictory evidence from throughout the record. Using BriefCase sychronization, the trial could access the document support for each contradiction from within the context of the letter.

• Interactive Summary Charts: Finally, we produced several interactive summary charts. Complicated details, such as the history of one witness' statements or the contents of chemical drums, were more easily explained in a summary fashion on a chart. Every summary graphic also contained links to documents with preset callouts showing the support for the information in the graphic. The summary graphics contextualized the key documents of the case.

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WIN Tools Used