The buffalo Creek disaster by Gerald M. Stern 1976 303pp

 Mining Disaster , negligence and the legal aspects  read 17/4/17

I was interested in reading this as in South Africa we were aware of many mine accidents with people trapped,(Coalbrook 1960 with 437 workers trapped and died.) we understood them as Acts of God and it was always claimed that there were high safety standards? This book was suggested reading for law school students at the time.

This is the story of Feb 1972 when a dam used by the mining company to store dirty water used to wash coal burst killing 125 people and destroying the entire homes in its wake leaving over 100 families who had lost all possessions and were put up in trailers by the Federal government. The “piercing the corporate veil", which merely refers to the rare legal opportunity to cut through a corporation's legal armour. This took place during the Nixon,Watergate period

This lawyer discusses claiming against the company in East Virginia or its stockholder in NY. Was the negligence or an "act of God" A ruling of a district court is not published but a previous case had been upheld on appeal and this was published. The concept of custom and usage was challenged i.e. it was common accepted practice for coal mines to create dams from their dumps to store dirty water. 1966 Abarfam Disaster Wales is better known and that killed 144 people. 

There are a number of reported cases of dams collapsing and the mining company was asked by its insurer if they had owned any dams. Replied that they had water purification systems but did not call them dams and the insurer was not prepared to pay out. The original owners of Buffalo had sold out, as the 1970 new regulation came into force and they did not have the money or staff to modernize and reach the safety standards. 

The concept of survive syndrome was newly established and claims for mental rehab and depression were made. In 1955 at Fort Lick, Pittson had paid out one family who were washed away with their house but survived so they had experience of these matters. Anne Fraud (Sigmund Frauds daughter) - children were more upset by the instability of their mothers as a result of WW2 bombing than the bombing itself.

The East Virginia Bar Association did a check on why an out of state law firm was used and discovered that they had not solicited clients or been ambulance chasers.

In the state of Maine, Pittson wanted to set up an oil port but the state was worried they would not have money to pay out compensation as they had impending liabilities over Buffalo Creek. So they need to get this trial over.

In conclusion the mining company paid out $13.5 million as they realized that they were guilty, worse than negligence and the bad publicity would not help. The plaintiff lawyer felt that a dragged out court case could not achieve much more.  $3 million was legal cost and of the 600 plaintiffs that was more than enough to restore their material losses  233 were children that funds were opened in their names.