· Los Angles legal eagle Edward L. Masry, the often-cranky personal-injury lawyer played by Albert Finney in the 2000 Oscar-winning Julia Roberts movie Erin Brockovich, died of complications from...
Girardi was about as famous as a lawyer can get in post-O. J. America. He was one of the lawyers brought in by Ed Masry and Erin Brockovich to help sue Pacific Gas & Electric on behalf of the residents of Hinkley, California. (A composite of him and another lawyer, Walter Lack, appears in the movie).
Edward Louis Masry (July 29, 1932 – December 5, 2005) was an American lawyer, a partner in the law firm of Masry & Vititoe and also a mayor and city councilman for the City of Thousand Oaks, California.
actor Albert FinneyEdward L. Masry, a flamboyantly pugnacious lawyer who won millions from a utility in a toxic pollution suit and was portrayed by the actor Albert Finney in the 2000 movie "Erin Brockovich," died on Monday at a hospital in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 73.
Brockovich, who still works for Masry as his research director, testified in the Van Nuys courtroom of Judge Stanley Weisberg that two key pieces of evidence offered by Cohen's lawyer did not strike her as sexual harassment.
Ed Masry, the flamboyant, crusading environmental lawyer portrayed by actor Albert Finney in the movie “Erin Brockovich,” which was based on Masry's landmark $333-million settlement against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for groundwater contamination in California's high desert, has died. He was 73.
Walker said she knew Hinkley residents who received as little as $10,000 from the settlement — and one that received $2.5 million.
Although, obviously, Erin Brockovich used her real name in the 2000 movie about the case, and her boss Ed Masry also used his, Tom Girardi got a different name for the feature film. He was portrayed by Peter Coyote and the character based on him was named Kurt Potter.
The character George--the biker boyfriend played by Aaron Eckhart--was based on Erin Brockovich-Ellis's Mexican-American biker boyfriend Jorge. Erin and Jorge did break up, but he did not leave her life.
Which actress played Erin Brockovich? Sandra Bullock. Julia Roberts. Jodie Foster.
As of the 2010 census, the ZCTA had a population of 1,692 (a decrease of 11.6% since 2000). The postal ZIP Code is 92347 and the community is inside telephone area codes 760 and 442.
Erin Brockovich's husband has filed for divorce, TMZ has learned. Eric Ellis just filed the docs in L.A. County Superior Court, citing "irreconcilable differences." The couple was married in 1999. They have no minor children. A date of separation is not listed.
His famous case against Pacific Gas & Electric was the inspiration for the movie Erin Brockovich, and awarded $333 million to 650 residents in Hinkley, CA.
Girardi worked on the “Erin Brockovich” case with Masry, who died in 2005. They represented residents of Hinkley, California, who sued Pacific Gas & Electric Co. over contaminated drinking water. Masry, who hired Erin Brockovich as a legal clerk, reached a $333 million settlement in 1996. The cases at issue in the Masry estate’s filing include ...
Court documents indicate that attorney Tom Girardi has yet to turn over funds from settlements in nine legal matters owed to the estate of Ed Masry, the attorney who worked with him on the environment contamination case made famous from the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich.”.
The financial problems of Tom Girardi and his law firm, Girardi Keese, continue to multiply, with the latest claim coming from the estate of Ed Masry, the attorney who worked with Girardi on the environment contamination case made famous by the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich.”
Richard Labowe, a lawyer for California Attorney Lending , told The National Law Journal that his client at one point had a “claim in excess of $10 million” in the Masry firm bankruptcy. “Unsecured creditors did get some payments along the way in the early days,” said Labowe, a solo practitioner in Los Angeles.
In a July 9 court filing in the bankruptcy case of Masry’s law firm, Masry’s estate claimed that Girardi has yet to turn over settlement funds from nine of those cases.
Brockovich's work in bringing litigation against Pacific Gas & Electric was the focus of the 2000 feature film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts in the title role. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing in a Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich herself had a cameo role as a waitress named Julia R.
She has two brothers, Frank Jr. and Thomas (1954–1992), and a sister, Jodie. She graduated from Lawrence High School, then attended Kansas State University, in Manhattan , Kansas, and graduated with an Associate in Applied Arts Degree from Wade College in Dallas, Texas.
The case was settled in 1996 for US$ 333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in United States history. Masry & Vititoe, the law firm for which Brockovich was a legal clerk, received $133.6 million of that settlement, and Brockovich herself received a settlement of $2 million.
Brockovich and Masry alleged that 300 cancer cases were linked to the oil wells. Subsequent testing and epidemiological investigation failed to corroborate a substantial link, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs. In May 2007, the School District announced that it was to be paid $450,000 as reimbursement for legal expenses.
Brockovich had a more extensive role in the 2012 documentary Last Call at the Oasis, which focused on not only water pollution but also the overall state of water scarcity as it relates to water policy in the United States.
Pacific Gas & Electric, file BCV 00300) alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium (also written as "chromium VI", "Cr-VI" or "Cr-6") in the town of Hinkley, near Barstow in southern California. At the center of the case was a facility, the Hinkley compressor station, built in 1952 as a part of a natural-gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium in a cooling tower system to fight corrosion. The waste water was discharged to unlined ponds at the site, and some percolated into the groundwater, affecting an area of approximately 2 square miles (5.2 km 2) near the plant. The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) put the PG&E site under its regulations in 1968.
Brockovich assisted in the filing of a lawsuit against Prime Tanning Corp. of St. Joseph, Missouri in April 2009. The lawsuit claims that waste sludge from the production of leather, containing high levels of hexavalent chromium, was distributed to farmers in northwest Missouri to use as fertilizer on their fields.
Masry, whose practice - and notoriety - grew after the movie, has died, aged 73, of diabetes complications.
The 2000 film took her name rather than his for its title, and Julia Roberts was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the overblown but irrepressible Brockovich. Albert Finney, who played Masry, was nominated also, as was the film and its director Steven Soderbergh, but only Roberts collected one of the coveted awards.
Roberts' depiction of the violent and profane verbal exchanges the twice- divorced Brockovich had with Masry was taken from life. Later, the lawyer cheerfully acknowledged: "No one has called me more names than Erin Brockovich, and I've called her everything in the book, but we still love each other." Their affection lasted even through an attempt by her former husband to extort $310,000 from Masry in a case that was eventually dropped.
The film is a dramatization of the true story of Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts, who fought against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) regarding its culpability for the Hinkley groundwater contamination incident. The film was a box-office success, and gained a positive critical reaction.
Erin Brockovich was released on March 17, 2000, in 2,848 theaters and grossed $28.1 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $126.6 million in North America and $130.7 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $257.3 million.
Later, Ed visits Erin because he needs the documents she found while investigating, and she takes the chance to request her job back in return. Rehired, she continues her research, and over time, visits many Hinkley residents and gains their trust. Ed and Erin hold a barbecue in order to speak to many of the residents and explain to them what PG&E has been trying to get away with, at which point Erin is awkwardly flirted with by one of the men. Erin and Ed find numerous medical problems in Hinkley, and that virtually everyone has been treated by PG&E's doctors who have led them to believe their issues are unrelated to the "safe" chromium. The Jensens' claim for compensation ultimately becomes a major class action lawsuit. Unfortunately, Ed explains that all direct evidence is linked solely to PG&E Hinkley, rather than PG&E corporate. Until headquarters can be implicated, PG&E corporate can deny any knowledge of what's happening in Hinkley.
Erin realizes Charles has been trying to communicate with her, and is finally able to listen to his story. Charles tells Erin he and his cousin were both employees with PG&E Hinkley. Heartbroken, he tells her his cousin has just died; dying a painful death from the poison he interacted with at PG&E.
She begins complaining loudly that she deserves more respect, but is astonished to find that he has increased it—to $2 million.
Soderbergh received a separate Best Director nomination for Traffic, another film released that same year, which he won. Early in the film, the real Erin Brockovich has a cameo appearance as a waitress named Julia; the real Ed Masry also appears in the same scene.
Brockovich had never been Miss Wichita; she had been Miss Pacific Coast. According to Brockovich, this detail was deliberately changed by Soderbergh as he thought it was "cute" to have her be beauty queen of the region from which she came. The "not so good employee" that met Brockovich in the bar was Chuck Ebersohl.
Tom Girardi was the actual, real-life attorney who stepped in to help Erin Brockovich get justice for the residents of Hinkley, Calif. back in 1993. However, if you're looking for him in the movie, you won't find a guy named Girardi in the Julia Roberts film "Erin Brockovich." Instead, they turned the Girardi character into a fellow named Kurt Potter, played by Peter Coyote. However, Girardi was an advisor on the film and was closely involved with turning the true story into an Oscar-winning motion picture.
The Truth About Tom Girardi's Connection To Erin Brockovich. The Bravo-verse was shocked when Erika Jayne not only announced that she and her husband, lawyer Tom Girardi, were divorcing after 21 years of marriage, but that Tom was also charged with stealing or misappropriating over $13 million in settlements meant for his clients.
Personal Life. Erin Brockovich was born as Erin Pattee on June 22, 1960 in Lawrence, Kansas, the USA. Her father Frank Pattee was an industrial engineer as well as a football player while her mother, Betty Jo, served as a journalist. Brockovich was raised alongside her two brothers Frank Jr. and Thomas, and a sister Jodie.
Her successful lawsuit was settled for US$333 million, the largest settlement paid in an American direct-action lawsuit till date. Her association with the case became the subject of the 2000 biographical movie ‘Erin Brockovich.’.
In 2007, the school district demanded $450,000 as reimbursement for legal expenses. In April 2009, Brockovich filed a case against Prime Tanning Corporation located in St. Joseph, Missouri. In this case, she accused the corporation of distributing waste sludge to the farmers to use as fertilizer on their fields.
In 2012, Brockovich became involved in a mysterious case where 14 students from LeRoy, New York, reported perplexing medical symptoms such as speech difficulty and tics.
One case accused the Whitman Corporation of chromium contamination in the city of Willits, California. Another lawsuit alleged contamination near PG&E's compressor station in Kings County California. The latter of the cases was settled in 2006 for $335 million.
The couple had one son Matthew and a daughter Katie before divorcing in December 1987. In 1989, Erin Pattee went on to marry Steven Michael Brockovich, thus becoming Erin Brockovich. This marriage, though extremely short-lived, produced one daughter.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company litigation case was a case related to the alleged contamination of drinking water with Cr-6 or hexavalent chromium in the southern California town of Hinkley. Between 1952 and 1966, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California used Cr-6 in a cooling tower system to combat corrosion. In the process, the wastewater was released in unlined ponds near the site and also some percolated into the groundwater. This affected an area of approximately 2 by 1 mile (3.2 by 1.6 km) near the plant.
Erin Brockovich is a true American hero who’s icon status and “stick-to-it-iveness” only fuels her determination to expose injustice and lend her voice to those who do not have one.
Over time, Erin realized that she could use her notoriety to spread positive messages of personal empowerment and to encourage others to stand up and make a difference.
Then, for three seasons, Erin hosted the Lifetime series, “Final Justice With Erin Brockovich”. The show celebrated everyday women who triumphed when faced with overwhelming adversity.Erin Brockovich has conquered all forms of media….
It’s been 12 years since Julia Roberts starred in the Oscar-winning tour de force “Erin Brockovich”. The film turned an unknown legal researcher into a 20th century icon by showcasing how her dogged persistence was the impelling force behind the largest medical settlement lawsuit in history. Since then, Erin hasn’t been resting on her laurels… she continues to fight hard and win big!
Her first TV project was ABC’s 2001 special “Challenge America With Erin Brockovich” where she helped motivate and organize the rebuilding of a dilapidated park in downtown Manhattan. This show is best described as “Extreme Make-Over Home Edition” on steroids.
Because of her fighting spirit, Erin has become the champion of countless women and men. She is this generations, “Dear Abby” and in fact receives thousands of “Dear Erin” letters and emails each year from people who are begging for help and support in their own personal struggles. Erin proudly answers every one of them.
When she realized that beauty pageants weren’t her thing, Erin, her husband and two children settled in Reno , Nevada. After divorcing, the single mother became a secretary at a brokerage firm where she met and married her second husband. But that marriage was short lived and the now mother of three was solo again.
Erin Brockovich (born Pattee; June 22, 1960) is an American legal clerk, consumer advocate, and environmental activist, who, despite her lack of education in the law, was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination in a town in California with the help of attorney Ed Masry in 1993. Their successful lawsuit was the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Erin Brockovich (2000), starring Julia Roberts as Brockovich and Albert …
Brockovich was born Erin Pattee in Lawrence, Kansas, the daughter of Betty Jo (born O'Neal; c. 1923–2008), a journalist, and Frank Pattee (1924–2011), an industrial engineer and football player. She has two brothers, Frank Jr. and Thomas (1954–1992), and a sister, Jodie. She graduated from Lawrence High School, then attended Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, and graduated with an Associate in Applied Arts Degree from Wade College in Dallas, Texas.
The case (Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric, file BCV 00300) alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium (also written as "chromium VI", "Cr-VI" or "Cr-6") in the town of Hinkley, near Barstow in southern California. At the center of the case was a facility, the Hinkley compressor station, built in 1952 as a part of a natural-gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium in a cooling tow…
• Honorary Doctor of Laws and commencement speaker at Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, in May 2005
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and commencement speaker at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, on May 5, 2007
• Honorary Master of Arts, Business Communication, from Jones International University, Centennial, Colorado
• Honorary Doctor of Laws and commencement speaker at Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, in May 2005
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and commencement speaker at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, on May 5, 2007
• Honorary Master of Arts, Business Communication, from Jones International University, Centennial, Colorado
Brockovich's work in bringing litigation against Pacific Gas & Electric was the focus of the 2000 feature film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts in the title role. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing in a Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actressfor her portrayal of Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich herself ha…
Brockovich's first book, Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win (ISBN 978-0071383790), was published in 2001. A second book, Superman's Not Coming, was released on August 25, 2020.
In 2021, Brockovich wrote about hormone-disrupting chemicals (such as PFAS) decimating human fertility at an alarming rate.
Brockovich has three children: a son Matthew and a daughter Katie from her first marriage to Shawn Brown, and a daughter Elizabeth "Beth" from her second marriage to Steven Brockovich. Her third husband was an actor and country music DJ, Eric L. Ellis. As of 2016, Brockovich resides in Agoura Hills, California, in a house she purchased in 1996 with her US$2.5 million bonus after the Hinkley settlement.