The day was February 26, 1972, a day that will live on in the hearts and minds of the victims and survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster. The Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald M. Stern, is an account of how the survivors of the worst disasters in coal- mining history, picked Gerald M. Stern and various other lawyers to file a lawsuit. The disaster occurred in Logan County of West Virginia. The flood occurred on a late February Saturday morning. A dam that was constructed by Buffalo Mining Company, whose sole stockholder was Pittston Company, burst and released millions of gallons of black water upon the residents of Buffalo Creek bringing deaths to at least one hundred and twenty-five victims. The wall of water that came rushing down, contained coal and mud and left four thousand people homeless in a matter of minutes. Mr. Scalf noted of this disaster, "You can't imagine, houses smashed, trailers destroyed, piles of trash and logs and brush bodies, at almost every bridge abutment. National guardsmen were pulling bodies out of wrecked houses, out of the black mud and piles of driftwood. The dead were strung all along the creek and roadside." Many people turned to Gerald M. Stern for help to receive capital for what they had lost. Stern was troubled on who should be sued so that these people can get returns for what they had lost. Stern could either sue the Buffalo Creek Mining Co., or Pittston Company. He chose to sue the Pittston Company and needed to pierce the corporate veil. He chose to sue Pittston to try to get the lawsuit in a federal court rather than a state court because most of West Virginia's jury in the trial would be against of any idea to sue the coal company which brought West Virginia its wealth. It would be a good idea to bring it to a federal court to get a diverse jury. In order for this to be brought into a federal court, a federal question needed to be asked about piercing the corporate veil.
