Buffalo Creek Disater

Incorporate Business Law with

The Buffalo Creek Disaster

On February 26, 1972, the worst man made disaster was happened in West Virginia of the United State. The disaster called the Buffalo Creek Disaster. The community in West Virginia faced a coal-mining disaster, which was caused by the Pittston Coal Company’s dam #3 that burst. The disaster caused 125 dead and thousand of people became homeless. However, the people who were victims in this disaster were able to work together and against the company that made them lost their properties and family members. In the book, I feel the power of solidarity, people did not knuckle under to the company’s small compensate, instead they were trying their best to sue the company, and made the company acknowledge their responsibilities in the disaster. In this essay I am going to incorporate what I learned in this class about personal jurisdiction, diversity of citizenship and punitive damage on this disaster.

Firstly, I am going to talk about personal jurisdiction and diversity of citizenship. Who was responsible for this disaster? Who was the right one the victims filed claim against was one of the most important legal issues in this case. The author in the book stated that he wanted to bring the suit against Pittston Company, the reason for that is that it could help him to bring the lawsuit to the federal court. If the author filed a complaint against the Buffalo Mining Company in the state court in Logan County, the author was afraid there would be some tricks pulled on him. So he brought the case into federal court will made him felt like home. I am going to talk more deeply about why the author want to brought the lawsuit to Pittston Company according to personal jurisdiction and diversity jurisdiction.

The collapsed dam was belonging to the Buffalo Mining Company, which was located in West Virginia, and Pittston Company was the sole stockholder for the Buffalo Mining Company. After the disaster, the Pittston...