Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Porter

22 S.W.2d 695
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 14, 1929
DocketNo. 2333.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 22 S.W.2d 695 (Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Porter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Porter, 22 S.W.2d 695 (Tex. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinion

PELPHREY, C. J.

In the year 1919, ap-pellee T. J. Porter entered the employ of appellant as a pumper, and together with his family resided on what is known as the Corsi-cana lease.

Prior to the discovery of oil on the premises, there had been a tank or lake thereon, a dam having been erected at the lower end of a depression on the lease thereby collecting and holding the water which naturally drained into the depression from the surrounding land.

When Porter and his family first moved on the land the dam was cut and the water was not collected in the depression; but during November, 1926, at the request of the owners of the surface, appellant repaired the dam, and thereafter the depression filled with water and formed a lake.

There were some rod lines running across the depression from the power house of appellant to some wells on the opposite side which were being pumped from the plant in the power house. The rod lines were supported on pipes driven into the bed of the depression and a footbridge erected by appellant along said rod lines.

On the 25th- of April, 1927, two of the children of appellees were drowned in the lake— Earl, a boy, nine years of age, and Neva Sue, a girl, almost seven years of age.

Appellees filed this suit in the Thirtieth district court of Wichita county, Tex., to recover damages for the death of said children.

Appellees, as grounds for recovery, alleged that appellant was negligent, in that the rod lines and footbridge erected by appellant constituted an attractive nuisance, and dangerous to children of tender years; that appellant failed to maintain at or near the bridge warning signs of the danger; and that the bridge was too narrow and had no handrails.

Appellant answered by general demurrer, special exceptions, a general denial, and specially pleaded that appellees were negligent in permitting the children to go upon the footbridge and rod lines that crossed the lake.

The case was submitted to a jury upon special issues, and they found:

That the bridge and rod lines were especially and unusually attractive to Earl and Neva Sue Porter and children of like age and condition, as a place to play.

*696 2. That appellant knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care could have known, of such attractiveness.

. 3. That said bridge and rod lines was a dangerous place for the children to play after the lake filled with water.

4. That appellant knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care would have known, of the dangerous condition prior to April 25, 1927.

4 ½. That appellant knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known, that the deceased children might likely play upon the bridge and rod lines after the tank was filled With water.

5. That the deceased children went, upon the bridge by reason of the attractiveness of it and the rod lines.

6. That the deceased children were drowned by falling from the bridge.

7. That a raft which was nn the lake did not attract the children to go upon the lake at the time they were drowned.

8. That they did not drown as a result of falling off the raft.

9. That they did not drown as the result of an accident.

10. That it was negligence on the part of appellant to maintain the rod line across the lake after it filled with water, and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the children’s death.

11. That the appellant failed to maintain warning signs at or near the bridge; that such failure was negligence and a proximate cause of the children’s death.

12. That appellant was negligent in constructing the bridge too narrow, and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the death of the children.

13. That appellant was negligent in failing to have a handrail on the bridge, and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the death of the children.

14. That appellees exercised reasonable care and parental supervision to prevent the children from riding upon the raft.

15. That appellees permitted the deceased children to go upon the footbridges, and ride the rod lines prior to the time the water came into the tank.

■16. That a person of ordinary prudence under the same or similar circumstances would have permitted children to play on the footbridges and ride the rod lines at such time.

17. That the deceased children went upon the footbridge and rode the rod lines after water came into the tank.

18. That appellees exercised reasonable care and parental supervision to prevent them from so doing.

19. That a reasonably prudent person would not have permitted Roger Porter, an older son of appellees, to maintain the raft on the tank under all the circumstances, and that such act on the part of appellees was not a proximate cause of the death of the children.

20. That appellees, prior to the death of the children, did not advise appellant that the footbridges were dangerous to the children, and that their failure so to do was not negligence.

21. That $7,000 fairly represented the sum which both of appellees could reasonably expect to receive from the deceased children after they had reached their majorities, if they had lived, and the reasonable value of their services until they attained their majority, deducting therefrom the reasonable cost and expense appellees would have incurred in educating, supporting, and maintaining them.

22. That prior to April 25, 1927, appellees knew that the bridge and rod lines were dangerous, and 'also knew that, if the children should go upon the bridge and rod lines, they might fall therefrom and be drowned.

23. That appellee T. J. Porter did not acquiesce in the way and manner in which the footbridge was constructed.

24. That on April 25, 1927, the dangerous condition created by the bridge and rod lines was not open, visible, and unconcealed, and was not known to the deceased children.

25. That George H. Lewis, appellant’s lease foreman,. through their father, warned and forbade the deceased children front going upon the bridge and rod lines after the water came into the tank.

26. That appellees knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known, that the deceased children would likely go upon the bridge and rod lines after the water eame into the tank.

Upon these findings the court rendered judgment in favor of appellees, and the Magnolia Petroleum Company appeals.

Opinion.

The first 13 propositions of appellant question the court’s action in refusing its requests for a peremptory instruction in its favor. These requests were made at the conclusion of appellees’ evidence as well as at the conclusion of all the evidence.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Collier v. Hill & Hill Exterminators
322 S.W.2d 329 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1959)
Peterson Ex Rel. Peterson v. Richfield Plaza, Inc.
89 N.W.2d 712 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1958)
Patsy Oil & Gas Co. v. Odom
1939 OK 341 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Shell Petroleum Corp. v. Beers
1938 OK 606 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)
Quisenberry v. Gulf Production Co.
63 S.W.2d 248 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1933)
El Paso Laundry Co. v. Gonzales
36 S.W.2d 793 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 S.W.2d 695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/magnolia-petroleum-co-v-porter-texapp-1929.