The Woburn trial was an incredibly complex case involving thirty-three plaintiffs, two defendants, a mountain of conflicting hydrogeological and medical testimony regarding causation, and multiple claims including negligence, nuisance and emotional distress. Given the complexity of the case, Judge Skinner's decision to divide the trial into separate parts was understandable. However, by polyfurcating the issues posed to the jury, the court produced more confusion than it prevented, for these jurors were asked to answer very limited, specific questions without understanding the series of events which led to these claims. Moreover, splitting the case into progressively smaller elements betrayed a paternalistic and condescending attitude towards jurors that was, in the Woburn case, unjustified.
The jury's somewhat puzzling interrogatory responses and the frustration expressed by individual jurors interviewed after the trial demonstrate the confusion produced by the polyfurcation of the case. While it is true that some of this uncertainty was the result of poorly worded interrogatories, their confusion was also attributable to the fact that when deciding the issue of causation, the jury was not allowed to hear evidence about the wider context of well contamination. Consequently, vital facts were kept from the jury that would have helped them understand the chronology of events being tried in the courtroom. For instance, evidence of when the plaintiffs first exhibited symptoms of illness would have given the jurors an idea of when the contaminants may have first reached Wells G and H and would also have given the jurors a more complete picture of what exactly was being contested by the parties. While Judge Skinner was justifiably concerned that the plaintiffs would use a circular argument to prove the defendants' well contamination caused the exposure to TCE, keeping such contextual information from the jury in the end hindered it in its task of arriving at the most truthful and accurate resolution of the facts in question.
Ultimately, Judge Skinner believed that separating the issues in the Woburn case would force rational decision-making on the jury while avoiding a decision made solely on the basis of emotion or sympathy. Such a view, though, is paternalistic and is premised on a fear of juries, and by implication would not allow a jury to hear any type of ambiguous or potentially difficult information during the course of a trial. Information concerning the jury's decision-making process in the Woburn case paints a picture of a group of people who took their task very seriously, and who were able to follow and assess the merits of complicated scientific testimony. There is no reason to believe that testimony regarding the leukemia victims would turn this group of sober-minded individuals into avenging angels who would consider no evidence but the pain and suffering of Jimmy Anderson. Any concerns that jurors could not handle such potentially disturbing evidence could be properly dealt with during jury selection, not after the trial began.