Fostoria Oil Co. v. Gardner

124 N.E. 467, 72 Ind. App. 509, 1919 Ind. App. LEXIS 303
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 7, 1919
DocketNo. 9,995
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 124 N.E. 467 (Fostoria Oil Co. v. Gardner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fostoria Oil Co. v. Gardner, 124 N.E. 467, 72 Ind. App. 509, 1919 Ind. App. LEXIS 303 (Ind. Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

Batman, C. J.

—This is an action by appellee against appellant for damages and an injunction. The complaint is in three paragraphs, which are of the same general tenor, each alleging in substance, among other things, that appellee was the owner of ■certain land in Jay county, Indiana; that appellant, for more than five years last past, had been operating wells on adjoining land, from which it had pumped salt water and oil, and caused the same to run into the ditches and drains on appellee’s land; and that as a result thereof the underground drainage on his said land had become filled and obstructed so that it would not drain the same, to his damage. No demurrer was filed to the complaint, or either paragraph thereof. Appellant filed an answer in two paragraphs, the first being a general denial. The second admits that it operated wells on land adjoining appellee’s farm, and alleges that said wells were originally free from .either fresh or salt water, until after certain wells on appellee’s land had been abandoned, the casing and tubing drawn therefrom, and the wells were allowed to remain unplugged or were improperly plugged; that after this had been done the water in said wells, both fresh and salt water, escaped therefrom and entered into the strata of rock in which oil is found and had been extracted through the wells operated by it on adjoining land; that the amount of such water is constantly increasing, and that he cannot produce oil from his said wells with: out extracting more or less water; that he has only [512]*512extracted water and oil from his said wells, and that he has not directly or indirectly deposited upon appellee’s land, or in any tile drain therein, any material except that which may have reached the same through the open drain or side ditch along the adjacent highway; that it would be impossible to conduct the water from” his said wells to any point where it would not reach appellee’s said land, without incurring' an expense which would render the operation of his said wells impracticable.

To said second paragraph of answer appellee filed a reply in general denial. Appellant also filed a cross-complaint against appellee, based substantially on the same facts stated in its second paragraph of answer, by which it sought to recover damages against appellee and an injunction. Appellee answered said cross-complaint by a general denial.

The cause was submitted to a jury for trial, resulting in a verdict in favor of appellee on both the complaint and cross-complaint. With its general verdict the jury returned its answers to certain interrogatories submitted by the court. Appellant filed a motion for judgment in its favor on the answer to the interrogatories notwithstanding the general verdict, which was overruled. It also filed a motion for a 'venire de novo, which was overruled. It then filed a motion and written reasons for a new trial, which was likewise overruled. This action of the court was followed by a motion on the part of appellant in arrest of judgment, which was overruled. The court then rendered judgment in favor of appellee for $350 and costs. Appellant then filed a motion to set aside the judgment, which was overruled, and now prosecutes this appeal, having assigned errors in this court as hereinafter indicated.

[513]*5131. Appellant contends that the court erred in overruling its motion for judgment on the answers to the interrogatories notwithstanding the general verdict. In determining this contention it should he borne in mind that the general verdict must be viewed as a finding of every issuable fact in appellee’s favor; that we may consider only the issues formed fly the pleadings, the answers to the interrogatories, and the general verdict; and that the general verdict must prevail, unless the answers to the interrogatories are in irreconcilable conflict therewith. Kokomo Steel, etc., Co. v. Carson (1919), 69 Ind. App. 523, 119 N. E. 224. It follows that we must accept the general verdict as a finding of the following material facts alleged in the complaint: That appellant, for inore than five years last past, has been pumping salt water and oil from land adjacent to appellee’s farm, and has been causing the same to run into the ditches and drains thereon, and by reason thereof has filled up the drain tile on appellee’s land, so that the water therefrom would not run off, but would back up and stand thereon; that by reason of the obstruction of the drainage on appellee’s said land, as aforesaid, and the casting of salt water and oil thereon by appellant, the crops on said laud have been destroyed each year during the last five years. As against this finding appellant cites the answers to certain interrogatories which find that the tile drain forming the outlet to appellee’s land was sunk ten inches below the grade line at a point below his said land; that the sinking of said tile caused the same at that point to be filled with sediment; and that appellee’s crops were destroyed because the tilé, forming the outlet to his land, was entirely closed and clogged by the sediment [514]*514found therein, at a point below his said land. Appellant contends that the answers to these interrogatories are in irreconcilable conflict with the general verdict on the question of the proximate cause of appellee’s damages, as they show that the sinking of the drain tile below appellee’s land, for which appellant was in no way responsible, was the proximate cause of such damages. In this connection we note that the jury did not find by answer to any interrogatory that appellant was not responsible for, * or did not contribute to, the sinking of said drain tile. We also note that the jury found, in answer to an interrogatory submitted, that had the drain tile, forming the outlet to appellee’s land, been constructed and remained upon a proper uniform grade, the sediment found therein would have stopped up, or interfered with, its service in properly draining appellee’s land. Appellee urges with much plausibility that this finding has the effect of nullifying the answer to the interrogatory, which finds that the sinking of the tile below appellee’s land caused the same, at that point, to be filled with sediment, and hence both of such findings should be disregarded.

2. But aside from this, we are bound by the well-settled rule that, in passing on a motion of the kind under consideration, it is .the duty of this court to search the pleadings to see if,, from any evidence possible under the issues, the answers to the interrogatories can be reconciled with the general verdict, and every reasonable presumption and inference deducible from the evidence which might have been admitted in support of the general verdict will be indulged in its favor. Evansville, etc., R. Co. v. Scott (1918), 67 Ind. App. 121, 114 N. E. 649; [515]*515Osborn v. Adams Brick Co. (1913), 52 Ind. App. 175, 99 N. E. 530, 100 N. E. 472.

3. Applying this rule to the issues in this case, we find that it would have been competent for appellee to have submitted evidence to show that the drain tile, which the jury finds had sunk below the .

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Bluebook (online)
124 N.E. 467, 72 Ind. App. 509, 1919 Ind. App. LEXIS 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fostoria-oil-co-v-gardner-indctapp-1919.