Carter Oil Co. v. Johnston

1953 OK 118, 257 P.2d 817, 208 Okla. 564, 1953 Okla. LEXIS 829
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 14, 1953
Docket34394
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1953 OK 118 (Carter Oil Co. v. Johnston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carter Oil Co. v. Johnston, 1953 OK 118, 257 P.2d 817, 208 Okla. 564, 1953 Okla. LEXIS 829 (Okla. 1953).

Opinions

JOHNSON, V.C.J.

The parties herein occupied reverse relative positions in the trial court and they will be hereinafter designated as they appeared in the trial court.

This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment rendered against it for $1,500 in plaintiff’s action for damages for personal injuries allegedly resulting from tripping upon and falling over a pipe line owned by defendant on premises it occupied under an oil and gas lease.

Plaintiff alleged, in substance, that during the year 1946 she had a surface lease on the northwest quarter of section 23, township 10 north, range 6 east, upon which she and her husband kept their milch cows; that the defendant owned and operated an oil and gas lease on said land; that a well defined and constantly used footpath led from her home south and passed on the east side of defendant’s tanks; and that the defendant maintained a salt water line from its said tanks that ran across the surface of the ground to the east line of said premises and which line crossed the said footpath at said point passing through grass and vegetation on July 4, 1946, which grass and vegetation were approximately 15 inches in height and concealed the pipe line from view; that the pipe line was approximately the same color as the vegetation and was located about four inches above the surface of the ground and constituted a dangerous and hazardous obstruction which was liable to trip up and cause people using said path to fáll.

That on July 4, 1946, plaintiff hurried down said path to keep their stock from being injured or poisoned from drinking the salt water from a pool where it had collected as it flowed across the ground; that she did not know the pipe line blocked the path; that in going down the path she was exercising the ordinary care of a reasonably prudent person but caught her toe under said pipe line and was tripped by the same and fell to the ground with great force and sustained serious personal injuries; that such injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendant in constructing and maintaining the pipe line across a well-defined footpath above the surface of the ground so as to constitute a barrier and hazard to people using said path; failure to warn travelers on said path of the existence of the dangerous hidden barrier across said path; and failure of the defendant to bury its pipe line across said footpath. That said negligence was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries herein.

Wherefore, the plaintiff prays judgment against the defendant for the sum of $2,999.

Defendant’s answer denied each allegation contained in plaintiff’s petition except that it admitted that it was the owner and operator of the leasehold and premises in question. Defendant alleged that if the plaintiff was injured as alleged, the same was the result of her own negligence and want of reasonable care for her own safety and that her acts and conduct contributed to and caused such injuries, if such were sustained.

The defendant further alleged that the alleged footpath in question was not a footpath, but was a part of a road crossing the land and that said road was traveled by automobiles and trucks daily by persons engaged in the operation of said oil and gas lease. [566]*566That by reason of such constant use of said road, and the area surrounding it, it was at all times mentioned in plaintiff’s petition free of any substantial amount of vegetation with none at all growing in the path. That defendant’s salt water line crosses said road at a point south of the plaintiff’s house where it is practically barren of vegetation and said line is approximately two-thirds buried and offers no obstruction whatsoever to people using said road; that it has been in place across said road for many years and its existence and location was well known to the plaintiff and was plainly visible and that if the plaintiff did trip and fall and sustain injuries as alleged, that it was by reason of her failure to keep proper lookout; that she could have avoided the same had she exercised the degree of care that an ordinarily prudent person would have exercised under the circumstances. That said accident and injuries, if any were sustained, were not due to or caused by any condition existing as a result of any prior act of the defendant.

The defendant prayed that plaintiff take nothing and that it have its costs expended.

Upon the issues thus formed the cause was tried to a jury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, which verdict was approved by the trial court and judgment rendered thereon. Defendant’s motion for a new trial was overruled arid the defendant appeals and presents five assignments of error, or contentions.

It is first contended that plaintiff’s evidence was insufficient to show that the pipe line on which she tripped and fell was a hidden dangerous and hazardous obstruction to those using the path, and that the court erred in overruling its demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence.

In reviewing trial court’s action on demurrer, we are constrained to apply the following rules: First, that on demurrer to evidence, that of the party against whom demurrer is sought should be given full credence and considered in the most favorable light, Oklahoma Hospital v. Brown, 87 Okla. 46, 208 P. 785, and second, before a demurrer to evidence can be sustained, the court must be able to say that, admitting every fact favorable to plaintiff and every inference therefrom, still plaintiff has failed to make out a prima facie case, Sartain v. Walker, 60 Okla. 258, 159 P. 1096. In other words, this court, in reviewing a ruling on a demurrer to the evidence* must treat plaintiff’s evidence as true. Annear v. Swartz, 46 Okla. 98, 148 P. 706, L.R.A. 1915E, 267, and when so considered, if reasonable minds may differ as to plaintiff’s right to recover, an order overruling a demurrer to the evidence will be sustained. Anthony v. Bliss, 39 Okla. 237, 134 P. 1122.

Defendant asserts that the accident occurred at 3 o’clock in the afternoon when there was adequate light to enable any person using ordinary care to have seen the pipe line across the path and avoid tripping over it and injuring themselves.

The substance of the testimony of the plaintiff, Vivian Johnston, germane to this contention, is that she and her husband had purchased an agricultural leasehold from another lessee and had taken charge of the farm about a month before the accident. A small part of the acreage was farmed and the rest was pasture. A path led from the farmhouse to the pasture which was south of the house. This path passed on the east side of oil tanks belonging to the defendant and admittedly located on its oil and gas lease. The defendant had two salt water pipe lines across this path. Plaintiff started down this path to drive the family milch cows away from the salt water and tripped and fell on the pipe line that defendant had raised about 6 inches above the ground at the place where it crossed the path by placing a box under the end of the pipe to keep it full of water to prevent corrosion in the pipe; that she [567]*567sustained serious personal bodily injuries from the fall; that she did not know the pipes crossed the path; that the pipes were concealed from her view by grass and rag weeds; that the weeds, grass, ground and pipes were almost the same color and invisible; that this was the first time she had traveled this path; that she did not know the pipe was across the path; that she had seen the pipe since the accident when the box was removed and that the pipe was flush down on the ground.

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Carter Oil Co. v. Johnston
1953 OK 118 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1953 OK 118, 257 P.2d 817, 208 Okla. 564, 1953 Okla. LEXIS 829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-oil-co-v-johnston-okla-1953.