Buford, Floyd M.

Mr. Bucci devotes his practice almost exclusively to litigation, primarily personal injury, commercial and insurance disputes. He has also practiced in the area of criminal defense. He appeared as counsel in thirty eight appeals decided by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Mr. Bucci was also counsel in over two dozen federal court actions which resulted in published opinions. He has won verdicts and recovered settlements against employers, governments, physicians, manufacturers and insurance carriers whose conduct resulted in serious injury to his clients or in the death of a family member.

In addition to his private legal practice, Mr. Bucci has an outstanding history of service to the State of West Virginia, serving as Legal Counsel to State Tax Commissioner Charles H. Haden, II, West Virginia State Tax Department, from 1971 1972; Staff Attorney, Legislative Sessions, Office of Legislative Services, from 1972 1977; Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of West Virginia, from 1972 1974 during the term of Chauncey H. Browning, Jr.; and was appointed by Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Special Assistant Attorney General for Anti Trust and Consumer Protection Actions. Additionally, together with his partners, Tim Bailey and Lee Javins, he served as Special Assistant Attorney General to represent West Virginia University in an action involving WVU’s withdrawal from the Big East Conference and move to the Big 12 Conference. Finally, in 2009 he was appointed by Governor Manchin as a trustee of the West Virginia Investment Management Board, which oversees more than twelve billion dollars of the state related investments, and he is a former chairman of the legal WV IMB committee.  He also served as a member of the visiting committee of the West Virginia University College of Law from 1996 - 2000.

Personal

Mr. Bucci is married to Anne Clime and they reside in Sissonville with Anne's daughters, six dogs and one unhappy cat. He has two adult children, Melissa, CEO of a computer marketing firm in Atlanta, GA and Paul, a lawyer in Philadelphia, PA and five grandchildren. His personal interests include golf, the beach, American history, and Pittsburgh Steelers football, as a life long season ticket holder and, of course, WVU. 

Representative Cases

Appellate Opinions

Mr. Bucci has appeared as counsel in thirty eight appeals decided by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He also appeared on behalf of parties in many other original jurisdiction proceedings on behalf of Petitioners or Respondents which did not result in a published opinion.

Those appeals argued by Mr. Bucci which the Supreme Court decided include: 
(1) San Francisco v. Wendy's International, 656 S.E.2d 485 (W.Va. 2007). There, plaintiff became ill from ingesting an undercooked hamburger. The Circuit Court excluded the expert witness testimony as to causation, relying on Daubert. The Supreme Court reversed and provided direction to Circuit Courts to decide the reliability of expert witness testimony on a case by case basis;(2) Worley v. Beckley Mechanical Inc., 648 S.E.2d 620 (W.Va. 2007). There a pipe fitter standing on a scissor lift was struck by a high pressure valve knocking off the lift and to a concrete floor 35 feet below and suffering injuries so serious he was prevented from filing a complaint within two years of his injury. The Court held he was permitted to show the period of time during which he was not capable of normally functioning to enforce his rights to toll the statute of limitations; (3) Davis v. Eagle Coal & Dock, 640 S.E.2d 81 (W.Va. 2006), held that product liability action by a coal miner against a roof bolter manufacturer (J.H. Fletcher) alleging a defective duct collection system was not preempted by the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act; (4) Sesco v. Norfolk and Western Ry Co., 427 S.E.2d 458 (W.Va. 1999), held that a coal miner was permitted the opportunity for discovery in his negligence claim against the railroad for supplying unsafe coal cars that he was loading with coal when he fell; (5) Sewell v. Gregory, 371 S.E.2d 82 (W.Va. 1988), held there was a duty owed by a contractor to a subsequent purchaser for structural defendants which manufactured only after the purchase; and (6) Estep v. Ford Motor Co., 672 S.E.2d 345 (W.Va. 2008), upheld verdict for plaintiff in a crashworthiness case where driver was unbelted and airbag failed to deploy on impact.

Federal Court Opinions

Mr. Bucci was also counsel in over two dozen federal court actions which resulted in published opinions. Among them were decisions successfully resulting, inter alia in:

(1) National Liability & Fire Ins. Co. v. Wheatley, 2008 WL 759329 (S.D. W.Va. 2008), abstention in a declaratory judgment action when coverage and liability issues were pending in state court; (2) Taylor v. Comsat, 2006 WL 3246508 (S.D. W. Va. 2006), remanding a diversity action by rejecting the federal officer defense; and, in (3) Kitzmiller v. Jefferson Supply Co., 2007 WL 1088641 (N.D. W.Va. 2007), rejecting defendant's motion under Daubert to exclude plaintiffs medical and industrial hygiene expert witnesses on the issues of specific and general causation with respect to a diagnosis of BOOP, Bronchial Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia, resulting from exposure to certain cleaning chemicals in an unventilated area.

Trials / Settlements 

• Verdict against trucking company for the family of a nineteen year old college student who was killed when a tractor trailer off-tracked and veered into her vehicle.
• Verdict against railroad for coal miner who slipped and fell in a coal car injuring his back.
• Verdict against surgeon for a patient whose common bile duct was cut during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and who was further injured by the surgical repair which caused severe infection and malnutrition.
• Verdict against auto manufacturer for vehicle occupant suffering burst fracture from sudden deceleration when air bag in a Ford Ranger failed to deploy when it struck a large tree.
• Verdict on all counts for defendant charged in federal court by USA with 18 counts of conspiracy and mail fraud.
  Settlements

Representative Settlements

• Recovery against long wall mining equipment manufacturer on behalf of a coal miner who received a catastrophic brain injury when struck by a chain which separated when replacing a long wall plow chain.
• Recovery against recreation boat trailer manufacturer on behalf of vehicle driver who sustained paralyzing injuries due to improper warning as to safe tongue weight for the trailer and causing a rollover.
• Recovery against coal company for long wall stage loader operator who was paralyzed by rib roll when not protected by adequate rib control.
• Recovery for family of coal miner fatality injured by roof fall when parallel cracks were present in his work area.
• Recovery for family of coal miner who was fatally injured by following mining company practices to enter an area of unsupported roof to retrieve roof jacks.
• Recovery against trucking company for family of truck driver who died from fatal burns received when another truck illegally entered the highway and struck his truck.
• Recovery on behalf of a quadriplegic against sport pickup manufacturer and the driver's insurance carrier, former for strict liability because of unstable design and the latter for first party bad faith claim assigned to him because of carrier's failure to settle for policy limits.
• Recovery on behalf of community residents against civil engineering firm which was negligent in the design of a waste water collection system.
• Recovery against manufacturer of chain hoist on behalf of coal miner who received severe paralyzing injuries when sheet metal jumped off hoist because unsecured by a securing clip.
• Recovery against heavy equipment trucking shipper who negligently loaded a counterweight on a flat bed trailer rather than a low boy, thereby, creating an unstable load and unsafe center of gravity causing the counterweight to break loose and bound off the concrete into the oncoming lane of traffic killing the driver and causing unstable burst fracture for the passenger.
• Recovery against railroad for family of twelve-year-old riding as a guest passenger in a vehicle struck by a freight train at a grade crossing.
• Recovery against aluminum producer for unsafe dust condition causing explosion resulting in multiple deaths.
• Recovery against electrical power producer for contract worker who contracted Legionnaire's disease because of poor bacteria control at cooling tower.
• Recovery on behalf of family of construction worker killed in electrical power plant cooling tower collapse.
• Recovery against bank holding company in shareholder derivative action for bank stock value loss from, inter alia, sub-prime mortgage investments.
• Plaintiffs' Steering Committee member obtained recovery for claims against Massey Coal Company arising out of the death of 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine in April 2010.
• Recovery in a wrongful death action arising from the Willow Island Cooling Tower collapse in 1978.
• Recovery against an engineering firm and contractor responsible for causing sewer flooding in homes caused by design and construction of sewer system.