Casualty Reciprocal Exchange v. Waggoner Drilling Co.

1959 OK 43, 340 P.2d 490, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 231, 1959 Okla. LEXIS 301
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 17, 1959
Docket37869
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1959 OK 43 (Casualty Reciprocal Exchange v. Waggoner Drilling Co.) 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
Casualty Reciprocal Exchange v. Waggoner Drilling Co., 1959 OK 43, 340 P.2d 490, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 231, 1959 Okla. LEXIS 301 (Okla. 1959).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Justice.

This action originates from the following facts which are now inherent in the judgment of the trial court, subject, however, to the laws governing appeals in general, and may be briefly summarized as follows:

Thomas J. Waggoner, the president of the Waggoner Drilling Company, employed the S. R. Hazelrigg Trucking Company, a “Class B Motor Carrier,” to move its rotary oil well drilling rig from an oil and gas lease (the T. Williams lease) located 12 miles south of Bristow, Oklahoma, to the Briggs lease 7 miles north of Bristow. The new location was about one-fourth mile off the highway. The Hazelrigg Trucking Company pursuant to contract was to dismantle the rig on the Williams lease and transport it to and reassemble the rig on the new location. The rig had been transported to the Briggs lease where it was unloaded. The substructure of the rig was in place. The mast was in position to be raised. A line was run from the mast over an A-frame and to a winch on a Hazelrigg truck. Waggoner’s daylight driller and three of Waggoner’s derrick men, together with Hazelrigg’s truck pusher and two of Hazelrigg’s truck drivers were present. While the mast was being raised by the Hazelrigg winch into an upright position, to an angle of about 45 degrees, the drive chain on the Hazel-rigg truck, though practically new, broke, and the mast fell to the ground resulting in the property damages in question.

The Hazelrigg Trucking Company had a liability insurance policy issued to it by the Casualty Reciprocal Exchange Company with limits of $25,000 for property damage. This was the only policy on which the Hazelrigg Company paid a premium; however, unknown to Hazelrigg the Casualty Reciprocal Exchange Company filed another policy of liability insurancfc with $1,000 limits for property damage covering Hazelrigg Company with the State Corporation Commission in accord with the statutes, 47 O.S.1951 §§ 161 to 169, through which Hazelrigg received its trucking permit as a “Class B Motor Carrier.” Waggoner Drilling Company (upon these facts) brought suit for $6,555.46 damages to its equipment against the Hazel-rigg Company, and by reason of the above *493 policies joined the Casualty Reciprocal Exchange Company as a party defendant.

In the jury-waived trial, defendant, Hazelrigg Company, interposed several defenses, which in substance were: (1) That the raising of the mast into position on the new location, although executed by the servants of Hazelrigg, was under the supervision and control of the plaintiff’s employees. Therefore, any negligence on the part of Hazelrigg’s employees in raising and damaging the mast was actually the negligence of the plaintiff who was in control of the operation. (2) That the raising of the mast into position on the new location was a necessary part of the entire operation of tearing down the rig at the old location, transporting the rig to the new location and setting the rig up in position for drilling at the new location. Therefore, the operation of raising the mast, during which the mast was damaged, had a proximate and necessary connection with an actual operation or use of the vehicle upon the highway; thus the insurance company should be held liable for any judgment rendered against Hazelrigg. (3) That the drive chain on Hazelrigg’s winch which broke during the operation of raising the mast was a practically new chain which was not defective. (4) That the falling of the mast was not due to the breaking of the winch chain. That the true cause of the falling of the mast was due to the improper setting of the mast on the substructure. That this improper setting of the mast was called to the attention of the plaintiff’s employee who was in charge of the operation but who dismissed the improper setting of the mast as unimportant. That the mast fell from the substructure thus placing a sudden increased strain upon Hazelrigg’s winch which broke the winch chain.

The Casualty Reciprocal Exchange Company’s defenses interposed in the course of the trial were (a) that the accident did not result from an operation or use of the truck on the highway, a condition required under the law as applied to its policy covering Hazelrigg Company as filed with the Corporation Commission; (b) that the policy sued upon did not cover damages to or destruction or loss of cargo or property in possession of insured or for which the insured is legally responsible as carrier; (c) that the judgment against Casualty Reciprocal Exchange was erroneous, because based on a private contract of insurance rather than the statutory policy filed with the Corporation Commission.

After the close of evidence on these issues and overruling of the demurrers thereto, and at the conclusion of the trial, judgment was rendered in favor of the Waggoner Drilling Company and jointly against the Hazelrigg Trucking Company and Casualty Reciprocal Exchange for $3,305.46; and, although judgment was rendered jointly against both defendants, only Casualty filed a motion for a new trial or perfected an appeal. Thus the gravamen of this appeal is to be found in the above contentions of Casualty which it presents under four propositions.

Casualty’s first proposition is that the trial court, though requested to do so, failed to make findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Section 611, 12 O.S. 1951, which covered all facts material to support its conclusion.

This contention is without merit. The record does not disclose that Casualty has been denied any substantial right. The court found in substance that Hazel-rigg and its insurance carrier (Casualty) became legally liable to the Waggoner Drilling Company through the use of a defective chain by Hazelrigg, the breaking of which caused the damage to Wag-goner’s mast, while in the process of transporting and reassembling and re-erecting the drilling rig as provided for by the statutory and contractual duties of Hazel-rigg as a Class B Motor Carrier. ' :■

The rule applicable in the instant case is found in Roberts v. C. F. Adams & Son, 199 Okl. 369, 184 P.2d 634, 635. Therein in the first paragraph of the syllabus this court said:

*494 “The test as to whether the court erred in refusing' to make separate findings of fact and conclusions of law in a case tried to the court is whether under all the facts and circumstances the party requesting such finding has been denied a substantial right.”

In the body of the opinion this court said:

“In the later opinions, this court has held that the trial court need not go to the extent earlier deemed necessary to comply with the provisions of 12 O.S.1941 § 611, in making findings of fact and conclusions of law upon request of a party litigant. The present rule, with citations of cases, is discussed in the case of Reed v. Richards & Conover Hardware Co., 188 Okl. 452, 110 P.2d 603, 604, wherein it is said: ‘ * * * The court is not bound to make separate findings concerning immaterial facts nor is the court bound to find the material facts in any greater detail than is really necessary for the correct decision, by a higher court, of questions of law involved in the case. * * * ’ ”

We think the findings on the material facts sufficient to determine the questions of law involved in the case.

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Bluebook (online)
1959 OK 43, 340 P.2d 490, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 231, 1959 Okla. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casualty-reciprocal-exchange-v-waggoner-drilling-co-okla-1959.