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Masry blames Bakersfield, Calif., lawyer Michael Dolan for stirring up the pot. "He's a rabble-rousing greedy attorney who should be disbarred," says Masry, "and you can quote me on that!" Dolan, who represents another set of Hinkley residents in suits against PG&E, claims that Masry and his fellow lawyers--who took a legally allowed 40% of the settlement--charged too high a fee for minors in the lawsuit. Dolan is so sick of the mess that he refuses to see the movie. "I read the script, and the only true part was Erin Brockovich's name," he says.
All the complaining miffs Masry and Brockovich. "What goofballs. It disappoints me," says Brockovich. Erin executive producer Carla Santos Shamberg says she bought the stories of Brockovich and Masry, the rest is Hollywood: "You're allowed in movieland to fictionalize, but the essence of the story is true. Unless we buy the rights to everyone's story, we have to fictionalize and condense." As for PG&E, its spokesman, Jon Tremayne, says, "The movie is an entertainment vehicle, certainly not a documentary." Although Hinkley resident Roberta Walker bears little resemblance to her movie persona, she is happy with the film: "It got the point across, what PG&E did to us." On that much, folks in Hinkley would agree.