Life mirrors art: Brockovich says don’t shy away from challenges

Thursday, June 27, 2002 | 8:41 a.m.

Erin Brockovich -- the woman, not the movie bearing her name -- wants to inspire people to stand up for what is right.

The woman made famous by Julia Robert's Oscar-winning portrayal of her fight against Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s contamination of the water in Hinkley, Calif., is now on the lecture circuit, sharing her story with thousands of others in an attempt to show people they can win in life.

"The fight in Hinkley was about the environment and about the law, but it was really about getting people to believe in themselves again," Brockovich said in an interview with the Sun at the Paris Las Vegas.

She was in town to speak at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees international convention this week, where 6,000 of the union's 1.3 million members gathered. The union, representing clerical, health care and corrections workers, is one of the nation's largest.

Brockovich, dressed in a dark navy blue tank top, above-the-knee A-line skirt and 3-inch heels, looked a bit classier in real life than her portrayal in the movie that dramatizes her solo investigation and legal triumph against PG&E. The unruly mane of blond wavy hair and clunky jewelry, however, reflected the spunk that allowed Brockovich to help win a $330 million lawsuit against the company for its contamination of the groundwater with toxic Chromium 6.

The lawsuit, representing more than 600 Hinkley residents, was the largest direct action lawsuit of its kind. Brockovich, who still works at the law firm Masry and Vititoe, has six more pending lawsuits involving toxic waste, including suits against PG&E, Lockheed Martin and Dole and Del Monte in Hawaii.

She is also fighting a personal battle against toxic mold. Brockovich, who lives with her youngest daughter and third husband, actor Eric Ellis, in a suburb of Los Angeles, became sick soon after she moved into her dream home, which she bought with her $2 million bonus from the PG&E lawsuit. She discovered the house had construction defects that allowed a toxic mold to grow. It cost her more than $600,000 to clean her house.

"How with the bonus I got from a toxic lawsuit I buy a toxic house eludes me," Brockovich said. Not surprisingly, she is suing the contractor and former owner in an effort to raise awareness of the toxic mold she says is sweeping the nation. Brockovich is also working with California state Sen. Debra Ortiz to pass a toxic mold protection act.

Her current battle is one way she stands up for what is right -- no matter how big the problem before her.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog," Brockovich repeatedly told union members.

Brockovich told a packed ballroom full of applauding union members that persistence allowed her to win against PG&E and keeps her going in all of her personal struggles -- of which she said she's had many.

"There's not one of us who is exempt from a tragedy or a struggle that we think we can't handle," Brockovich said. "But I'm here to say you can and you will, simply because you have to."