Buffalo Creek Disaster Book Review

“Oyez, oyez, oyez” The law comes to life like never before in The Buffalo Creek Disaster written by Gerald M. Stern. Published by Stern in 1976, his book chronicles the events preceding and following the buffalo creek flood of 1972; with particular focus on the legal aspects of this incident. No one could be more qualified to write on this topic than Stern, this is true because Stern was the lawyer who took on the case… and won.

In the February of 1972, a coal entrapment (dam) had failed due to heavy rains and improper drainage procedures. The 17 mile valley in West Virginia was slammed by a wall of water. The resulting flood unleashed approximately 132,000,000 gallons of black water. Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. This was the most devastating coal mining disaster in history. When thinking of a coal mining disaster, you imagine burly men trapped in mines. This time it was the miners’ wives and children fleeing for their lives.

At the time of the disaster, Stern paid little attention to it. He had just finished representing African Americans in the south that were being deprived of voting rights. In the wake of the disaster, the survivors got together and decided they wanted justice. The looked for a law firm to help represent them. They decided on Arnold & Porter. A young Stern approached his superiors and asked to be appointed to the case.

The Buffalo Mining Company was owned by The Pittston Company. When the time came to address the disaster, Pittston released a press release calling the flood, “an act of God”. This was a huge mistake on their part. The public, outraged, blamed Pittston for the flood. This strengthened the survivors resolve for justice. Arnold & Porter began building the case. They decided to sue Pittston instead of The Buffalo Mining Co.

Pittston rushed to settle with as many victims as they could, offering measly sums as low as 4000 dollars. Many people who had nothing left after the flood had no choice but to accept these offers because they couldn’t wait for the lawsuit to follow through, and there was no guarantee that they would even be compensated well or win the lawsuit.

As Arnold & Porter began to talk to the survivors, they were presented with countless harrowing stories. Working out of a local gas station, they inventoried survivors and their tales. When survivors were asked to identify bodies, they couldn’t even tell what color the skin was because it was caked in coal sludge. One example that really shows the horror of this disaster is that 3 babies were never identified after this. They now rest in a grave with no name. One survivor recounted his story to Stern…

“My wife, she was hanging on the edge of the roof, and she---as I tried to help her up, she was kind of heavy---she was about five and a half months pregnant and she was a big-boned-like woman, and well, she wasn’t on the real heavy side, but she was heavy anyway, you know.

“And I picked her up or tried to pick her up with my left hand and holding my son in my right hand. And he was screaming and he knew something was wrong. He was screaming and carrying on, and as I tried to pick her up, why, I just lost my grip, you know, just the roof, the gable of the house, the way it was made, and her pulling on me too and I went back in the water with him in sort of a lurch, you know, and my wife says, ‘What are we going to do, what are we going to do?’ And I said, ’Just hold on to anything you can find, anything.’ And by that time the water was so deep and so much force, why, I was twenty or thirty feet from her.

“When I looked back and saw her she said, ‘Take care of my baby.’ And by that time I was gone. That’s all I heard. That’s the last time I saw her.

“And I carried him down through there and my vision---I couldn’t see because of the black muck and stuff, it was just blurred. Everything was just blurred, but I still had that boy of mine and we were going under and under and I was trying to hold him and keep him up and keep myself up at the same time.

“We were just thrown from side to side and I was just grabbing onto a center of somebody’s tire that came off a car or something---it was inflated and everything, and I grabbed the center of it and I held onto it and just where it went that’s where I went. And I was thrown from side to side and crushed---my insides was crushed so hard that it just seemed like my eyeballs was trying to pop out, and my breath, I just couldn’t get my breath at all.

“Somewhere along there I lost that boy of mine. I don’t know where.

“By that time he had stopped screaming and he had drank so much water and everything---I don’t know what happened to him” (pp. 43-44).

Survivors were put into trailers provided by the government. Pittston was still attempting to settle with survivors. Arnold & Porter already decided to sue Pittston, but the question remained where to sue. They settled on federal court for many reasons. The plaintiffs must state the amount of property lost. Pittston kept questioning the people about these figures. One of Pittston’s lawyers was talking to a gentleman about his property value, asking how much it would have been worth is he was to sell it in the condition it was in. The man responded “I have no idea, for they wasn’t for sale…” this quote exemplifies the unfairness of this disaster.

The governor of West Virginia created a commission to investigate the flood. The findings of this report showed that Pittston had shown “flagrant disregard” for the people. Arnold & Porter continued to investigate the incident. Pittston attempted to throw the Buffalo Mining Co. under the bus, so to speak. Claiming it was a separate division altogether and therefore Pittston couldn’t be responsible for its actions. Later, evidence surfaced that Pittston was in control of The Buffalo Mining Co. all along, this settled the matter.

Stern listens to another story by a man. The man was swimming through the waters with his wife trying to find safety. Finally he had to pull her up to a roof, but she went under and never resurfaced. Nine days later her body was found five miles downstream. With this new story it became obvious that these people lost more than just physical things. They were also left with “psychic impairment”.

The case just evolved. Several psychiatrists mentioned the survivors having survivor syndrome. There are five categories and all the survivors had some manifestations. Death imprint, death guilt, physic numbing, impaired human relationships, and significance. It was explained that all the survivors were psychically impaired. It was now obvious to Stern that this was the most important part of their claim.

Pittston wanted to keep a good amount of information on this case a secret from the public. This was their desire so their public image wouldn’t be as affected. The Judge in the case, Judge Hall, ruled that Pittston was allowed to keep nothing of the nature hidden. A story that Stern shares ends up with this lesson “…sometimes that is all you do in law. You just keep pushing ahead until the other side cracks.”

Stern began examining people associated with The Buffalo Mining Company and Pittston. Through many of these dispositions, it was uncovered that Pittston had built many such dams recklessly. When Pittston bought the Buffalo Mining Company, they were able to purchase so cheaply because Buffalo had admitted they could not afford to keep up with industry safety standards. When Pittston took over it was on the condition they would bring everything up to regulation. This did not happen. Stern finally had evidence that Pittston knew about the condition of the dam before this disaster happened.

Through further disposition evidence came forth in writing that Pittston was knowingly and continuingly violating the law. Facts of recklessness had been uncovered and Pittston was forced to reveal these finding to the public. However, they continued to delay the publishing of these findings as long as they could.

Pittston tried and tried to disprove claims of psychic impairment. They examined victims and even went as far as to make them travel countless miles to be examined by Pittston doctors. The psychiatrist they used wasn’t even out of school. These efforts proved fruitless. Pittston changed its tactics; they began to question how the plaintiffs hired Arnold & Porter instead of local law firms. After harassing them about this, Judge Hall ordered them to desist. The case was moving along nicely.

Harassment continued as Arnold & Porter was accused of “ambulance chasing”. Debates continued and they proved that they had no such influence on their hiring. The people gave Stern authorization to negotiate and recommend settlements on their behalf. Work began on drafting a settlement. The number stern settled on was 32.5 million dollars.

When Stern was talking to a former Pittston engineer, he learned something shocking. 20 years prior to the Buffalo Creek flood, a similar incident had occurred. It was the flood at lick fork. The most significant piece of information to come from this was that Pittston had prior knowledge of what happens to black water dams.

Pittston began attacking from a different angle. They attempted to discredit approximately 30 plaintiffs and have their claims dismissed. The strategy developed was as follows; the first group targeted was survivors not physically harmed by the flood. Hypothetically, once this group was dismissed the next group would be just as easy. If Pittston could play their cards correctly they hoped to do away with all physic impairment claims against them.

This ploy didn’t work, fortunately for Arnold & Porter. The total physical damage for all the plaintiffs was only a couple of million dollars. Physic impairment was the most important part of this case and everyone involved knew it. Judge hall overturned Pittston’s motions to dismiss these claims and the case hummed along.

When negations began, Pittston said they would settle for 3 million. This was insulting to Arnold & Porter. In confidence, they were viewing anything above 10 million as a victory. The debates continued to no avail. However, when Judge Hall made his decision about the physic impairment, Stern had a new bargaining chip.

With this information in hand, Stern reinforced his 32.5 million figures. Pittston was nervous and they could tell. Both sides were still very far off on a figure. Stern felt as though he owed it to the plaintiffs to go to trial. This frightened Pittston even more.

One thing Pittston was attempting to avoid at all costs was a public trial. This would have an adverse effect on their public image. Pittston was in the middle of negations for a contract in Maine and a court case would not help that. This may be the key factor that led to settlement.

When meeting again with Pittston’s legal counsel, Stern was prepared to settle the case. Both sides had permission to settle and the time had come. Pittston came up to 10 million, but Stern felt he could get more. He said 20, but Pittston countered with much lower. Finally the debate ended when they split their differences at 13.5 million dollars.

Stern was disappointed that he didn’t get to take the case to trial, but there was no denying that this was a win for all the plaintiffs. 2 million alone was allocated for children of the disaster. The majority of the winnings went to the physic impairment claims. Each person received approximately 13 thousand dollars each after legal fees.

An additional lawsuit was filed for 348 children who weren’t represented before. Going on the same psychic impairment claims, the sought 225 million dollars. In June 2974, these people settled for 4.8 million dollars.

This had been the most powerful case Gerald Stern had ever worked on. In the afterword he mentioned how sad he was it was over. He went on to represent the Scotia widows of a mine collapse in Kentucky. He went into his own law firm, calling it Stern & Huge.

The overall theme in the book, The Buffalo Creek Disaster, is one of complexity. It is a painting with several layers composing its art. On the surface it looks like a simple trial book, to someone who didn’t read the book that exactly what it is.

When we begin to scratch the surface, we see the authors live in this book. Gerald M. Stern felt this was the most rewarding case he ever worked on. The man’s passion is vivid in his descriptions of the events. This is a story of heroism. This is a story of horror and murder. This is a story about the people who were fortunate enough to survive with nothing left.

The tapestry that is The Buffalo Creek Disaster is heart wrenching in the hands of the author. He created the theme and did a wonderful job of it. It is composed of almost every possible emotion. The theme therefore is insightful emotional law.

When asking what the authors’ perspective is on crime and correction, it is difficult to answer in the terms of this specific book. Stern has only written about his large public cases. The Buffalo Creek Disaster and The Scotia Widows are examples. In these books, Stern goes up against major corporations. Stern also mentioned his past in his book, where he defended African Americans against racial intolerance.

This makes it seem as though Stern, as a prosecutor, hasn’t gone up against individuals. This is an illogical assumption considering Stern is a seasoned prosecutor. From this book we can tell some things about his views on the matter.

Gerald Stern has a strong desire for justice. He gets personal involved in his cases even though he knows a lawyer shouldn’t. This personal interest he has often drives him harder on the defense. Since he faces large corporations usually, correction is something harder to guess. He seeks settlements for his cases, not jail time. Stern wants everyone to be treated the same. His views on crime and correction are very noble.

This book can be matched with textbooks and other books alike. It was similar to No Heros, No Villians, in the sense that we witnessed through the prosecutors eyes. There was much lecture that was relevant to the book. Almost all the material on the courts related to this book.

We can make several connections between the textbook and the novel. The chapters on lawyers and the courts read parallel with the book. When reading the two at once the materials played off each other and helped the understanding of each other. Overall the outside material was added onto by reading this book. In the same way the book was added onto by the outside material.

I believed that Stern made a very strong argument in his book. He wrote from his heart and brought personal stories in to make us feel strongly for his cause. By the end of his book, I was rooting for Arnold & Pittston to up the settlement. I was hoping for the trial, much like Stern was. We both wanted to see justice served out and have people know that someone was responsible.

I agree with Stern on almost everything presented in his book. His opinions on the legal system and the lessons that he passes on just by writing a book are fascinating. Stern has gone as far as to shape my opinions on trials and procedural criminal law. His opinions are clearly defined and hard to dispute.

My concept of the subject matter was little to begin with. I was certainly not an expert on mining disasters or man-made floods. With a blank slate in my mind, Stern shaped my opinions and concept of this disaster. I find it hard to believe that anyone could feel differently about this case. 125 people died and this could have been avoided. In such a case the bad guy is clearly defined. For our purposes it’s the Pittston Company.

Pittston through flagrant disregard for people’s lives cost those people their lives. The concept of justice is one that we see from start to finish. I was thrilled with the book. I personally felt as though Pittston should have paid more. However, it’s difficult for my mind to think in terms of 1974 USD compared to today’s rate.

This book really shows greed in an indirect light. It’s a shame to know these lives could have been saved if Pittston had done something as simple as putting in a drainage pipe. This kind of greed was everywhere at the time. The tragic part is that it still exists today.

One of the most beneficial things to come out of this case is the recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. At the time of this case, such a claim was unheard of, which is why it was so difficult to prove. After 9/11, Buffalo Creek was in the news because of the origins of PTSD. 30 years prior it helped to define the psychological impairment people suffer.

This was a fantastic read. I’m very happy that I enjoyed the book I chose. The Buffalo Creek Disaster was a wonderfully pieced together book that I will not soon forget. It remains a culturally relevant piece of work that has societal implications all over.