Pure Oil Co. v. Chisholm

1936 OK 252, 75 P.2d 464, 181 Okla. 618, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 1
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 17, 1936
DocketNo. 25495.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1936 OK 252 (Pure Oil Co. v. Chisholm) 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
Pure Oil Co. v. Chisholm, 1936 OK 252, 75 P.2d 464, 181 Okla. 618, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 1 (Okla. 1936).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This action was commenced in the district court of Tulsa county by Webster Chisholm, as plaintiff, against the Pure Oil Company, a corporation, as defendant, to recover damages to lands and growing crops. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

Plaintiff, in his petition, alleged that he was the owner of an 80-acre tract of land; that defendant was operating producing oil and gas wells thereon and on premises adjoining the same; that the defendant, during the years 1931 and 1932, was careless and negligent in the operation of said wells and permitted salt water, crude oil, and base sediment therefrom to flow over and upon plaintiff’s lands, whereby some four acres thereof were destroyed and the remainder seriously damaged, and which also destroyed certain growing crops. Under his first cause of action, which was for damages to his land, plaintiff sought recovery of the sum of $12,000, and under his second cause of action, which was for damages to his crops, the sum of $150. The defendant by its answer, admitted its corporate existence and that it was operating producing oil and gas wells on the premises described in plaintiff’s petition, and that the plaintiff was the owner of the 80-acres which he claimed, and then denied generally and specifically all of the other allegations in plaintiff’s petition.

The cause was tried to a jury. The defendant’s demurrer to the evidence of plaintiff was overruled and its motion for a directed verdict was denied. Plaintiff requested and was granted permission to amend his pleadings to conform to the proof. At the request of the defendant, the jury was permitted to view the premises concerning which the controversy arose. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and fixed his damages at the sum of $2,000. Motion for new trial was filed and overruled, and defendant appeals.

The evidence discloses that the defendant was operating three producing oil and gas wells on the lands belonging to the plaintiff (which defendant had under lease by mesne conveyances), and six wells on lands immediately adjoining those of the plaintiff; that during the years 1931 and 1932 defendant permitted salt water to escape and flow from both operating units over and across the lands belonging to the plaintiff; that the salt water discharged from the lease operated by defendant on the adjoining lands was approximately twice the volume of that produced and discharged from the wells located on the lands of the plaintiff; that there was no proof of any necessity of discharging any of this salt water on the lands of the plaintiff.

Eor reversal the defendant assigns nine grounds of error and presents them under three propositions. Defendant urges first, “the defendant, as an operator, is not liable to the owner of the leased premises for damages caused by oil, salt water, and refuse from the wells on the leased premises in the absence of proof of negligence, and no effort being made to separate the damages alleged to have been caused by operations on .plaintiff’s land and that on adjoining land, no recovery can be had.” In support of the above contention, defendant relies principal *620 ly upon Tidal Oil Company v. Pease, 153 Okla. 137, 5 P. (2d) 389; Marland Oil & Gas Co. v. Hubbard, 168 Okla. 518, 34 P. (2d) 278; and Walters v. Prairie Oil & Gas Co., 85 Okla. 77, 204 P. 906.

A correct answer to tbis contention involves a further construction of section 11580, O. S. 1921, which provides:

“No inflammable product from which any oil or gas well shall be permitted to run Into any tank, pool, or stream used for watering stock; and all waste of oil and refuse from tanks or wells shall be drained into proper receptacles at a safe distance from the tanks, wells, or buildings, and be immediately burned or transported from the premises, and in no case shall it be permitted to flow over the land. Salt water shall not be allowed to flow over the surface of the land.”

As said by Mr. Vice Chief Justice Osborn, speaking for this court in the recent case of Texas Company v. Mosshamer, 175 Okla. 202, 51 P. (2d) 757:

“* * * Since the adoption of the Revised Laws of 1910, this statute has been treated as a penal statute and also as a remedy for the benefit of all persons who may suffer ¡injury by a violation of its terms. Since the law positively requires that all waste oil and refuse from tanks or wells shall 'be drained into proper receptacles and be immediately burned or transported from the premises, and in no case shall the same or salt water b.e permitted to flow over the land, it has been repeatedly held that a failure to perform the duty thus enjoined upon the operator of an oil well is negligence per se, and no other negligence need be pleaded or proved. Knupp Oil Corp. v. Lohman, 129 Okla. 288, 264 P. 824; Comanche Drilling Co. v. Shamrock Oil & Gas Co., 122 Okla. 253, 254 P. 20; Owen-Osage Oil & Gas Co. v. Long, 104 Okla. 242, 231 P. 296; Devonian Oil Corporation v. Hurt, 169 Okla. 114, 36 P. (2d) 24.”

In Tidal Oil Co. v. Pease, supra, we held that the provisions of the statute were intended for the protection of property, and that the owner of property might impound the substances enumerated within the above statutes or overflow his own land therewith without violation of said statute so long as he confined such operations strictly to his own premises and thereby caused no injury or damage to others. In this connection Mr. Justice Riley, speaking for this court, said:

“If taken literally, this section would prohibit the owner of land from permitting any inflammable product from any oil or gas well to run into any tank or pool used for watering stock, although located upon his own land. Likewise, it would prohibit the owner of land from allowing salt water to flow over the surface of his own land although confined exclusively thereto. Obviously this is ¡not the intent of this section. The intent and purpose of the act is to prevent persons in the operation of oil and gas wells to deposit oil, etc., in ponds, tanks, etc., or in streams used by others for watering stock, and also to prevent such operators from allowing salt water to escape from their wells and flow over the surface of the land of others. To hold that operators could not flow salt water over the surface of land owned by them or leased by them for that purpose, or to deposit same in pools or tanks on their own land, would in many cases render impossible development for oil and gas in fields where salt water is produced. It would result in depriving the owner of land of the right to use it to his own advantage where such use would in no way harm or injure others. It is only permitting oil or other inflammable products to escape into pools or tanks used for watering stock and located upon the lands of others, or to flow into streams upon the premises of others, that the law was intended to prohibit. So with salt water. Subject to the rules of law with reference to due care, etc., the owner of land ought not to be prohibited from. the full use and benefit thereof so long as he does not by such use injure or damage other persons.”

Again, in Marland Oil Co. v. Hubbard, supra, wherein Chief Justice Riley and Justices McNeill and Osborn dissented, we further held as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
1936 OK 252, 75 P.2d 464, 181 Okla. 618, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pure-oil-co-v-chisholm-okla-1936.