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

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.

Even though the subtitle gives away the ending, you won't be able to put this one down as the author leads you to one clue after the other that bring down a corrupt company and give new life to a community ripped to shreds.

The book was amazing. Really a good read. The story of what happened to those poor people when the Buffalo Creek Dam broke is absolutely heartbreaking, but they were able to triumph in the end. The book is not bogged down with legalese as it so easily could have been, making it accessible to readers who are not familiar with the law world and its idiosyncracies. Very well written. I highly recommend!

Wow! What a book. Can you imagine having a wall of water suddenly appear on a Saturday morning and totally engulf your house and drown members of your family? Can you imagine escaping to the roof of your house as it was carried along by flood waters, crashing into bridges and other houses? Can you imagine having a young child ripped from your arms by rampaging flood water? These horrors actually occurred in 1972 in a small valley in West Virginia. Eventually 125 people lost their lives in what is still the greatest disaster of its kind in the U.S.

Stern tells the story of the Buffalo Creek disaster. He describes how an inept corporation used coal slag to construct illegal dams across Buffalo Creek, a small stream in West Virginia. As would be expected, water accumulated as lakes behind the dams. During a heavy rainfall, the largest of the dams burst, sending millions of gallons of water rushing down the valley toward 16 small communities built along the creek's banks. The loss of life, property damage, and mental anguish were extensive and traumatic.

Stern, who was the lead attorney for a law firm that represented the survivors of this disaster, tells the story of the victims and relates the legal intrigues that formed litigation against the coal corporation responsibile for the disaster. Also described are problems with West Virginia authorities, including the governor, who historically had close political ties with coal companies.

The most gripping parts of Stern's book are the words from the survivors. Their stories of death and injury are made even more horrific when you realize that this disaster need not have occurred if the coal corporation had been less callous and more socially responsible.

This book is an evening's read and is highly recommended for anyone concerned about social justice, political intrigues, and corporate responsibilities.

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.