A Civil Action

A Civil Action
Cover to the paperback edition
AuthorJonathan Harr
LanguageEnglish
PublishedAugust 29, 1995
PublisherRandom House
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages500
ISBN978-0-394-56349-7
OCLC31969453
LC ClassKF228.A667 H37 1996
Followed byThe Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece 

A Civil Action is a 1995 non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s. The book became a best-seller. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.

It is based on the case of Anderson v. Cryovac. The first reported decision in the case is at 96 F.R.D. 431 (denial of defendants' motion to dismiss).

A 1998 film of the same name, starring John Travolta as plaintiff's lawyer Jan Schlichtmann and Robert Duvall as Beatrice Foods attorney Jerome Facher, was based on the book.