Benefield v. Milchem, Inc.

281 So. 2d 771, 1973 La. App. LEXIS 6795
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 3, 1973
DocketNo. 4111
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 281 So. 2d 771 (Benefield v. Milchem, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benefield v. Milchem, Inc., 281 So. 2d 771, 1973 La. App. LEXIS 6795 (La. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

SAVOY, Judge.

This case is consolidated with suit No. 4112 on the docket of this Court, entitled “George Ratcliff v. Milchem, Inc., et al”, La.App., 281 So.2d 778 and separate decrees will be rendered.

These cases arise out of the same accident which occurred in the Bancker Oil Field in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, on August 21, 1969.

In the instant case, plaintiff sued Mil-chem, Inc. for injuries alleged to have been received because of the negligence of Milchem’s employee, Robert Todd. At the time of the accident, Benefield was performing services as a pumper for the operator of the field, George P. Mitchell and Associates, Inc. After exceptions of vagueness and no cause of action were overruled, Milchem filed an answer denying the negligence of Todd, and, in the alternative, pleaded contributory negligence and assumption of risk on the part of Benefield. Milchem further incorporated in its alternative plea, a third party petition for contribution against D & A Construction Company, Inc. and its liability insurance carrier, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company.

Milchem later supplemented its answer and third party petition and named as additional defendants the following officers of Mitchell, the operator of the field: George P. Mitchell, Bernard F. Clark, John D. Martin, Morris D. Thompson, Jr., E. A. Riley and Sidney Walker. These officers will be referred to hereinafter in this opinion as “Mitchell officers”. Also, in the supplement to Milchem’s answer, the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, the liability carrier of Mitchell, was made defendant. St. Paul, as the workmen’s compensation insurer of Mitchell, intervened to seek workmen’s compensation benefits and medical expenses paid to and on behalf of Benefield.

A crew from D & A, including George Ratcliff, plaintiff in suit No. 4112, was doing repair work in the field at the time of the accident, and the third party petition of Milchem was predicated on the alleged negligence of the crew.

In suit no. 4112, Ratcliff, plaintiff therein, filed his petition against Benefield, the Mitchell officers, and St. Paul, as liability insurer. In the alternative, and in the event it should be found that none of these defendants were negligent, Ratcliff prayed for judgment against Milchem and its liability insurer, Aetna Casualty and Surety Company. Hartford, as workmen’s compensation insurer for D & A, intervened to recover workmen’s compensation benefits and medical expenses paid to and on behalf of Ratcliff. In their answer, Milchem and Aetna denied that any act of Todd contributed to the accident, and pleaded in the alternative, the contributory negligence and assumption of risk of Ratcliff, and, further in the alternative, they sought contribution from Benefield, the Mitchell officers, St. Paul, D & A, and Hartford, by way of a third party demand.

The cases were tried before a jury, the trial consuming seven full trial days. On November 19, 1971, at 7:40 P.M., the jury returned to the courtroom with the following verdict:

“JURY VERDICT
“1. Was Milchem guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident. Yes
“2. Was C. D. Benefield guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident. No
[773]*773“3. Was George Ratcliff guilty of contributory negligence. No
“4. Was D & A Construction, Inc. guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident. No
“5. Were any of the following guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident:
“1. Sidney D. Walker, Jr. No
“2. E. A. Riley ~No
“3. Bernard F. Clark No
“4. John D. Morton No
“5. George Mitchell No
“6. Morris D. Thompson No
“6. Was C. D. Benefield insured under the policy of St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Yes
“Answer the next question if you have answered ‘Yes’ to No. 1 and ‘No’ to No.
2.
“7. What amount of money would compensate C. D. Benefield for his damages. $75,000.00
“Answer the next question if you have answered ‘Yes’ to any of the following: No. 1, No. 2, or any part of No. 5, and if you have answered ‘No’ to No. 3.
“8. What amount of money would compensate George Ratcliff for his damages. $65,000,00
“s/ Alvin J. Picard
“Foreman”

The jury found that Milchem was the only party guilty of negligence which was the proximate cause of the accident. Judgment was rendered in favor of Benefield and against Milchem for $75,000.00, subject to the rights of St. Paul as workmen’s compensation carrier and intervenor; and in favor of Ratcliff against Milchem and Aetna for $65,000.00, subject to the rights of Hartford as workmen’s compensation carrier and intervenor; ánd the third party petitions of Milchem and Aetna were dismissed. Milchem and Aetna appealed sus-pensively, and devolutive appeals were applied for by Benefield, Ratcliff and Hartford, and also by St. Paul because of the jury verdict that it afforded liability coverage to Benefield.

The record reveals that in the locale where the accident occurred, there were two “heater-treaters”. The function of a heater-treater, an upright tank, in an oil field is to take the emulsion as it comes out of an oil well, and by the use of heat (and sometimes chemicals) within, the heater-treater, the emulsion is broken down into water, oil, and natural gas. The emulsion enters the heater-treater at the emulsion inlet close to the top of the heater-treater, and falls to a plate in the top part of the heater-treater, after which it goes down through a pipe that takes the emulsion to the bottom of the tank where it is spread out on a spreader plate. The emulsion then rises past a fire tube (inside of which is a burner), and it continues to rise through a series of baffles with the oil rising to the top and going out of the tank at the oil outlet, down through a valve (sometimes called a “dump valve”), and then to the oil storage tanks.

The water, which is released in the process, goes out through a pipe inside the heater-treater near the bottom, and travels up through a pipe which is within another pipe known as the outside siphon (sometimes referred to as a “water leg”). When the water gets near the top of the inside pipe where it meets the gas, it spills over and down and fills the outside siphon around the inside water pipe and goes out through a diatroller valve (dump valve) and to the water tanks through the water line.

The gas accumulates at the top of the heater-treater tank and fills the top compartment. This gas, which is under pressure, meets and is not in any way separated from the water within the outside siphon or water leg. Part of the gas goes through the gas outlet and pipes off to another area, with a portion of the gas going [774]*774through a line to what is known as a scrubber, whose function is to remove the moisture from the gas, and then the gas goes into the fire box and is used as fuel for the burner in the heater-treater.

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Related

McMullen v. Pan American Fire & Casualty Co.
352 So. 2d 1058 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1977)
Reggio v. Louisiana Gas Service Co.
333 So. 2d 395 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1976)
Benefield v. Milchem, Inc.
282 So. 2d 146 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1973)
Ratcliff v. Milchem, Inc.
281 So. 2d 778 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
281 So. 2d 771, 1973 La. App. LEXIS 6795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benefield-v-milchem-inc-lactapp-1973.