THE SCOTIA WIDOWS: Inside Their Lawsuit Against Big Daddy Coal

Book ID/图书代码： 07900008B21953

English Summary/英文概要： On March 9, 1976, a violent explosion, fueled by high concentrations of methane gas and coal dust, ripped through the Scotia mine in the heart of Eastern Kentucky coal country. The blast killed fifteen miners who were working nearly three and a half miles underground; two days later, a second explosion took the lives of eleven rescue workers. For the miners’ surviving family members, the loss of their husbands, fathers, and sons was only the beginning of their nightmare.

In The Scotia Widows, Gerald M. Stern, the groundbreaking litigator and acclaimed author of The Buffalo Creek Disaster, recounts the epic four-year legal struggle waged by the widows in the aftermath of the disaster. Stern shares a story of loss, scandal, and perseverance–and the plaintiffs’ fight for justice against the titanic forces of “Big Daddy Coal.”

Confronted at nearly every turn by a hostile judge and the scorched-earth defense of the Scotia mine’s owners, family members also withstood the opprobrium of some of their neighbors, most of whom relied on coal mining for their livelihoods. Meanwhile, Stern, representing the widows of the disaster on contingency, amassed huge bills and encountered a litany of formidable obstacles. The Eastern Kentucky trial judge withheld disclosure of his own personal financial interest in coal mining, and a popular pro-coal former Kentucky governor served as the lead defense counsel. The judge also suppressed as evidence the federal mine study that pointed to numerous safety violations at the Scotia mine: In a rush to produce more coal, necessary ventilation had been short-circuited, miners had not been trained in the use of self-rescue equipment, and ventilation inspections had not been made. Moreover, Scotia did not even have a trained rescue team. Ultimately, the Scotia widows’ ordeal helped to inspire the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, which changed safety regulations for coal mines throughout the country.

The Scotia Widows portrays in gripping detail young women deciding to pursue a landmark legal campaign against powerful corporate interests and the judge who protected them. It is a critically important and timeless story of ordinary people who took a stand and refused to give up hope for justice.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 關於失去與堅持終獲正義的動人故事！
不僅是個案，無關乎時空，而是弱勢族群努力、堅持不懈爭取權利的普世價值
讓人想一頁一頁看下去，期盼這些不平凡的平凡女性能獲得正義

1976年3月9號，東肯塔基一座史科沙礦坑（Scotia）發生巨大爆炸，15人在爆炸中不幸身亡。2天後，發生二次爆炸，再次奪走了11位救援者的生命。然而這一切對於罹難者家屬來說，僅是惡夢的開始。
這15位遺孀找上了剛剛結束歷時四年西維吉尼亞的水牛溪集體訴訟的Stern，希望他能代表受害者遺孀告礦業公司。在Stern分析所有她們將面臨的困難後，這15位遺孀仍決定進行訴訟。在訴訟的過程中，他們遭遇到許多更大更出乎意料的困難，礦業公司的各種施壓、偏袒業者的法律制度等。
擁有的財勢的礦業公司，掌管著小鎮的生計，遺孀們的親友幾乎也都依賴礦業公司維生。在此情境下，任何決定都受到嚴苛的審視與批評。在審判的過程中，許多不利於礦業公司的證據被隱瞞，如聯邦礦業報告中曾指出史科沙多項安全違規，如為了提高產量，業者沒讓礦工們接受自救訓練，休息時間過短，通風設備不足等。更可怕的是，史科沙根本沒有救援小組。在審判的過程中顯露許多不合理之處。這些故事讓你想一直看下去，希望這些遺孀能贏得正義！
但這些遺孀的苦難促使1977年礦業職業安全衛生法令的訂定。此書描寫了這些年輕女性決定與大型權利機構以及偏袒的法律制度抗爭過程。這些不平凡的平凡女性，捍衛正義與希望的跨時代故事將啟發所有人。小蝦米對抗大鯨魚最終獲得正義！！所有公民權利都是用血淚爭取而來的！ Gerald M. Stern擅長將複雜事件簡單陳述，聽他娓娓道來這個關於失去、醜聞與堅持獲得正義的動人故事！(VC)

Awards/获奖情况：“This is a very scary story, a guided tour of the grinding cogs and spinning wheels inside the machinery of justice. Gerald Stern’s compassionate account of the ordeal of the Scotia widows shows you how horribly out of kilter it can all get when greed and self-interest are at the controls. Only with luck and the expertise of Stern does justice emerge in the end, a bit tarnished but still intact.”---Jonathan Harr, author of A Civil Action

On March 9, 1976, an explosion in the Scotia mine in eastern Kentucky widowed 15 women. They asked Stern, a public interest lawyer, to represent them in suing the coal company based on his successful fight against the corporate coal companies that he’d recounted in his book The Buffalo Creek Disaster. Here Stern offers a spare, lucid account of how the widows won a lawsuit against their husbands’ employer despite obstacles that included community obloquy for suing the job-providing mining company, unfavorable laws designed to protect corporate mining, abusive defense tactics and the active hostility of the trial judge. What sets Stern’s effort apart from other David and Goliath legal stories is his impressive ability to explain in the simplest language complex legal issues, trial dynamics and strategy, and the role played by the intangibles of personality, bias and local culture in a lawsuit’s outcome. Stern is also adept at keeping himself out of the story and allowing readers to come to their own conclusions based on the facts of the case and the moving words of the widows. (Aug. 26)---From Publishers Weekly

About the Author/作者介绍： Gerald M. Stern was a founding partner of the Washington, D.C., law firm Rogovin, Stern & Huge. Prior to that, he was a partner with Arnold & Porter for eleven years, where he was the lead counsel for the survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster. Before joining Arnold & Porter, he was a trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, trying voting discrimination cases in the South. He wrote about those experiences in chapters of two books, Southern Justice and Outside the Law. He is also the author of The Buffalo Creek Disaster and has served as general counsel of Occidental Petroleum Corporation and as special counsel to the United States Department of Justice. Presently, he is a legal consultant and lives in Washington, D.C.
Gerald M. Stern是華盛頓特Rogovin, Stern & Huge法律事務所的合夥人，曾在Arnold & Porter擔任合夥人超過11年。在Arnold & Porter任職期間，曾擔任西維吉尼亞的水牛溪事件受害者的首席顧問，1972年匹茲頓煤礦公司(Pittston Coal Company)的水壩爆裂，造成西維吉尼亞的水牛溪(Buffalo Creek)125人喪生，Gerald M. Stern將此紀錄成書《The Buffalo Creek Disaster》。曾是美國司法部人權司律師與特別顧問。目前居住在華盛頓。

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