Buffalo Creek Disaster Essay Research Paper Imagine

Buffalo Creek Disaster Essay, Research Paper

Imagine being woken up in the early morning and having your life be changed by a single horrific even. This situation was like no other coal disaster. This was the result of the irresponsibility of big business not caring for the well being of regular citizens. This case was a first in that the coal miners were not the victims, but their families were. The coal miners were not going to sit around and let this go by, they are ready to fight back.

On an early February morning in 1972, one of the countries worst man-made disasters occurred in Buffalo Creek in West Virginia. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste rushed down a narrow creek and slammed into a small coal-mining town. The tidal wave was 20 to 30 feet tall and sped down the mountain at 30 miles per hour. Instantly, the numbers of deaths were over 125. The majority of deaths were from women and children unable to free them selves of the water cluttered with debris ranging from homes to railroad tracks. When the tidal wave seized the remaining 4,000 survivors were left to an entire town destroyed. All homes and possessions were gone in the matter of seconds.

This case was unique in the way of; the coal miners were not ready to take the small settlement offered by the Coal Company. The coal miners were out to look for the Coal Company to take responsibility for the act. And make sure that this kind of event would never happen again. They wanted the Coal Company to pay for all their sufferings, including mental and property damages

After this horrible disaster, the 4,000 survivors were seeking revenge in a way. They wanted to get to the heart of this matter and that was Pittston. He was the person that was CEO of the company that owned the Buffalo Creek coal mine. After the event occurred, the coal miners wanted to file a lawsuit against Pittston. A lawyer by the name of Gerald Stern started to look into this matter after hearing about the disaster.

Before joining the law firm that Stern was apart of during the case, He was a civil rights lawyer for the department of Justice. The law firm that he was involved with during the case was Arnold & Palmer based out of Washington D.C. Stern traveled a good amount of the southeast trying cases in voting discrimination cases for the Justice department. When the Voting Act of 1965 went in action, it was guaranteed that all black southerners would be able to vote. Stern, after considering what future he had in this field, deiced to leave the justice department and move onto a different type of legal field.

After working in Arnold & Palmer for a number of years trying cases for large cooperation.s, attempting to sue the Government. It was deiced that the entire lawyer staff had to try Pro Bono cases for a year. Pro Bono cases are public interest cases. When the firm was in its third year cycle of trying these cases, it was Sterns turn. He had not found anything that really was a life changing case. He deiced to go to a therapist and told them that he was very bored and lacked interest in being a lawyer. The next thing he knew, he was asked to give the forty dollars for the amount of time he was there and never went back to a therapist again.

It wasn’t until the day that he received a call from his friend that worked for the Environmental Defense Fund and was told that their was a case that he would be very interested in looking into. Stern deiced that he would look further into this case. As Stern went about finding more about this case, he met up with the lawyer representing the Buffalo Creek Survivors, Charlie Cowan. Stern wanted to know everything that was going on with the case. Cowan explained to him, how he wanted an out-of-state firm to take over the proceedings of the case. The reason being, the coal companies controlled the majority of West Virginia and having a case brought up against a coal company in West Virginia would be a victory for the Coal Company. Stern and Cowan deiced to contact the Arnold and Palmer and try to receive approval on representing the survivors of Buffalo Creek. When the time came and Stern received approval from his firm, he did had know idea what he was getting himself into.

In researching further into the Buffalo Creek Disaster, he found that the Pittston Company owned the Dam that gave way and caused the disaster. Pittston knew that his company was at fault and try to say that the disaster was an “Act of G-D. This was completely wrong in that an “Act of G-D” is a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tornado, or flooding. Yes there was flooding but, the Dam that was put up by the company was supposed to do its job and hold back the water. The problem is, the Dam failed so it is the responsibility of the Pittston Company.

Pittston thought that if he claimed that issue, the survivors would attempt to sue The Buffalo Creek Mining Company and not them. If that were the situation, it would have to been seen in the West Virginia State Court. Stern sued Pittston Company because they were based out of New York and they would be able to be seen in a Federal Court away form West Virginia. This was made possible by; the Constitution permit citizens form other states to sue other citizens in a Federal Court. Also, Stern realized that the Dam was not inspected; therefore, the State would be at fault for the disaster as well.