Our founders, Daniel (Danny) Sheehan and Sara Nelson, met while seeking justice for Karen Silkwood. On November 13, 1974, Silkwood, a safety inspector and activist with the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union, died when her car was run off the road in rural Oklahoma. She was on her way to meet a New York Times reporter with a folio containing evidence of safety violations at the plutonium fuel rods plant where she worked.
Following a nationwide demand for an investigation, Danny—already a noted social justice attorney—filed a lawsuit on behalf of Silkwood's children. A broad and unlikely coalition of organizations undertook a public education and organizing campaign to publicize the lawsuit, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Jesuit Office of Social Ministries, the Environmental Policy Institute, the Quixote Center, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Fund for Constitutional Government, the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, and the Anti-Nuclear Movement.
Danny, an attorney with the Jesuit Office of Social Ministries, and Sara, the National Labor Secretary for NOW, worked tirelessly on Silkwood’s behalf.
The jury in Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee awarded a record-setting $10.5 million judgement to Silkwood’s estate. The case established new precedent in liability law, and effectively ended construction of all new nuclear power plants in the United States.