Buffalo Creek Disaster
http://www.wvculture.org/history/buff
creek/bctitle.html
Gerald Stern’s Reflections…

“Sometimes you do well by doing good”
SETTLEMENT

13.5 million
 5.5 for property and wrongful death
 8 for psychic impairment
 13,000 for each who sued for mental
injuries
 Lawyers got 3 million
Lawsuit is a contest

Contesting sides use, hide, interpret and
emphasis facts which creates and supports a
story that it wants told

How to organize facts
– In Civil Case
– In Criminal Case
Civil/Criminal
TYPE
CIVIL
CRIMINAL
Standard of
Proof
Preponderance
of Evidence
Penalty
$ damages
Pre-Trial
Discovery
Beyond a
Reasonable
Doubt
Jail/probation/
fine
Motions: to
sever,to
suppress etc.
Civil/Criminal
TYPE
CIVIL
CRIMINAL
Alternative to
Trial
Settlement
Plea or PleaBargain
Legal Process
Adversary
Adversary
Court
State and
Federal
State and
Federal
Plaintiff
Needs to establish defendant’s direct
responsibility for the harm
 Needs to establish basis of damages beyond
property loss
 Needs to decide who to depose and what to
ask
 Needs to decide when to settle and when to
go to trial

Obstacles

Where to sue
– Why Federal court?

Judge shopping
 How to “pierce corporate veil”
– How to discover that Buff Creek and Pittson were one

What can recovery be for?
– Survivors mental suffering
– Need experts to prove this
Obstacles-cont.

How to assess damages
 How to use discovery
 How do establish that defendant’s
negligence was “reckless”
 When and if to initiate settlement talks
 Getting access to information, for example..
– WVA ad hoc commission
– insurance
DEFENSE

Needs to explain reason for event and why
they are not liable
 Needs to be able to attack plaintiff’s claim
Defense’s position

Act of God
 Custom and Usage
 Corporate veil should not be pierced
 Lack of precedent for survivors mental
suffering
 Psychic impairment not a legitimate cause
of action
Obstacles

Judge
 Better lawyering on Plaintiff’s side
– More effective at discovery

Truth
 What else?
Civil Lawsuit can be

Tool of social justice
 Effective tool of punishment
 Monetary compensation for harm suffered
 What else?
For Definitions of Legal Terms
http://dictionary.law.com/defa
ult2.asp
Look up definitions of

Adversary Process
 Jurisdiction
 Precedent
 Litigation
 Discovery
 Plaintiff
 Defendant