Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is stored offsite. Please make an appointment prior to visiting.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Daniel Murdock Buffalo Creek Litigation Papers, A&M 4513, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Daniel R. Murdock, 2022

Biographical / Historical

Daniel Murdock obtained his L.L.B. from Harvard Law in 1962. He worked with Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine as part of a team of law firms working for the defendant Pittston Coal Company in the case of Dennis Prince et al. v. The Pittston Company. Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine was a leading law firm located in New York that was founded in 1929 and dissolved in 1998. During his time with Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, Murdock was chairman of the litigation department. In 2009, he joined Patton Boggs LLP as a partner. Other lawyers involved with the defendant's team were Zane Grey Staker of Kermit, WV, and William T. O'Farrell and Robert L. Elkins, of Jackson, Kelly, Holt & O'Farrell in Charleston, WV.

Scope and Contents

This collection primarily contains bound legal documents relating to legal cases resulting from the Buffalo Creek flood of February 26, 1972: Dennis Prince et al. v. the Pittston Company, Justice et al. v. the Pittston Company, West Virginia v. the Pittston Company, and the Governor's Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry papers. Testimonies, maps, illustrations, and photographs are included.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Buffalo Creek (Logan County, W. Va.)
• Buffalo Creek (W. Va.)
• Flood damage
• Liability for emotional distress
• Pittston Coal Company
• Trials, litigation, etc.
• West Virginia University College of Law Archives