The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal company--and won (Vintage) [Paperback]

Gerald M. Stern (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0307388492 | ISBN-13: 978-0307388490 | Publication Date: May 6, 2008

One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam owned by the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon, 25 foot tidal wave of water, sludge, and debris crashing into southern West Virginia's Buffalo Creek hollow. It was one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. 125 people were killed instantly, more than 1,000 were injured, and over 4,000 were suddenly homeless. Instead of accepting the small settlements offered by the coal company's insurance offices, a few hundred of the survivors banded together to sue. This is the story of their triumph over incredible odds and corporate irresponsibility, as told by Gerald M. Stern, who as a young lawyer and took on the case and won.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A straightforward, suspenseful, and completely absorbing tale that will leave you cheering at the end."—San Francisco Chronicle“Jerry Stern's classic work provides readers with tremendous insight into the causes of the disaster. . . . It is powerful, troubling, and uplifting.” —From the foreword by President Bill Clinton“A shocking, timely book.” —The New York Times Book Review“A fascinating tale of how investigative lawyers work, intermingled with sympathetic portraits of the survivors of the disaster.”—Chicago Tribune“Fascinating reading. . . . An inside look at a history-making case.”—The Boston Globe

About the Author

Gerald M. Stern is a Counselmen at Phillips & Cohen LLP, a practice is devoted exclusively to representing whistleblowers in qui tam lawsuits. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School before beginning his legal career in Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (May 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307388492
• ISBN-13: 978-0307388490
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Civil Law
  • #28 in Books > Law > Legal History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lawyering down in the pits, October 31, 2001

By 

G. Ware Cornell Jr. "anotherlawyer" (Weston FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal company--and won (Mass Market Paperback)

Jerry Stern's account of the litigation over the Buffalo Creek dam disaster ought to be read by every wannabe trial lawyer so that he or she will understand the tremendous creativity real lawyering, particularly lawyering down in the pits, requires.

The real practice of law requires vision and courage, which this book amply illustrates. Stern and his team from Arnold and Porter took on the near impossible case, armed only with the real tools of our trade, the words and ideas that form the arguments that shape the law.

And yet this is not just the story of courageous plaintiffs' lawyers, it is about the truly great defense lawyers on the other side, in particular Zane Grey Staker, whose tenacity and command of the language and of his case, gave the A & P lawyers a great and fair fight, and of the United States District Judge, whose role was not only to provide each side with "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge" but who understood that proper case management plays a critical role in achieving substantial justice.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There Are Good Attorneys . . ., March 13, 2003

By 

Kelly K. Coyle "generally annoyed" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal company--and won (Mass Market Paperback)

My Civil Proceedure Prof. assigned this to us over Christmas Break so we could become familiar with "piercing the corporate veil", which merely refers to the rare legal opportunity to cut through a corporation's legal armour and attack some of the meat and money, i.e. personal assets of the officers. This only happens when there is extreme wrong doing by those suits running the business, and if you want to know what extreme worngdoing is, this is the book that will lay it out for you, pretty as a penny.
I have to admit, I was dreading reading this book, as the holidays were a sweet time to escape the stressful activities of law school. So when "Harold", our WonderBread/uptight, D.C., in the process of divorce, Napoleonic law professor assigned this reading, I was not too thrilled.
But once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. This is the story that makes good people want to become good lawyers.
The story is about a coal mining disaster, a preventable, mind-reeling, man-made disaster and how a dedicated attorney wades through the litigation process, extracting painful stories from the survivors, and skillfully uses hard work, pit bull clenched determination, the legal system and a little luck to persevere over a greedy, thoughtless, and culpable corporation. I hope those guys fighting Enron read this.
A great read, even if you have no legal aspirations and like a good, meaty story with a real-life happy ending.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A horrible disaster, September 21, 2000

By 

Shawn Ayers (Milton, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal company--and won (Mass Market Paperback)

This was, I believe, one of the worst man-made disasters of it's time, and it is a shame that so few people have heard of it. It was, essentially, a man made dam built from slag refuse from a local coalmine that collapsed during a large thunderstorm. The resultant floodwaters killed scores of people in the Buffalo Creek Area, destroying homes and private property as well. What makes the tragedy so much worse, however, is the conditions the people were forced into before and after the flood. If you want to read a heartbreaking true story of tragedy, poverty, and the cold, uncaring face of Big Coal in West Virginia, then you must read this book.