Walton v. Phillips Petroleum Co.

65 S.W.3d 262, 152 Oil & Gas Rep. 310, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 7930, 2001 WL 1513206
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 29, 2001
Docket08-00-00385-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 65 S.W.3d 262 (Walton v. Phillips Petroleum Co.) 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
Walton v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 65 S.W.3d 262, 152 Oil & Gas Rep. 310, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 7930, 2001 WL 1513206 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice.

Jud Walton, pro se, appeals from a summary judgment granted in favor of Phillips Petroleum Company, (Phillips) and Parker & Parsley Petroleum USA Inc., Pioneer Natural Resources Company, and Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc. (referred to collectively as Pioneer). We affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

In November 1996, Walton filed suit against the City of Midland alleging that its sewer treatment farm had contaminated the groundwater beneath his ranch in Midland County. In May 1998, he added several other defendants, including Phillips and Pioneer. With respect to these defendants, he alleged that their operation of open salt water pits had contaminated the groundwater and that they had failed to prevent the migration of pollutants from the pits to the groundwater.

The trial court granted summary judgment with respect to the City of Midland and several other defendants in September 1998, and then severed those summary judgments into a new cause number. Walton filed notice of appeal to this court on January 7, 1999. As that appeal remained pending, Phillips and Pioneer filed motions for traditional and no-evidence summary judgment. Athough they filed separate motions, the grounds raised are identical: (1) Walton’s claims for permanent damages are barred by limitations; (2) Walton’s damages are permanent rather than temporary as a matter of law; and (3) there is no evidence of causation. Before the trial court ruled on these motions for summary judgment, we affirmed in part and reversed in part those summary judgments granted in favor of the City of Midland and other defendants. See Walton v. City of Midland, 24 S.W.3d 853 (Tex.App.—El Paso 2000, no pet.). Having the benefit of our decision, the trial court granted Phillips’ and Pioneer’s motions for summary judgment and then entered a severance order which rendered those judgments final.

PROPRIETY OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT

In Issues One and Two, Walton challenges the granting of summary judg[268]*268ment in favor of Phillips and Pioneer on his nuisance, negligence, and trespass causes of action. Before addressing the statute of limitations issue raised in the traditional summary judgment motion, we will consider the no-evidence summary judgment granted on the element of causation. In that respect, Walton argues that the trial court improperly granted a no-evidence summary judgment in favor of Phillips and Pioneer because their motions did not comply with Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a(i) and because he produced sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to the challenged elements. With respect to his first argument, it is waived because Walton did not raise this objection in the trial court. See Walton, 24 S.W.3d at 857;1 Williams v. Bank One, Texas, N.A., 15 S.W.3d 110, 117 (Tex.App.—Waco 1999, no pet.); Roth v. FFP Operating Partners, L.P., 994 S.W.2d 190, 194-95 (Tex.App.—Amarillo 1999, pet. denied).

Standard of Review — No Evidence Motion

Turning to the merits of the issue, a no-evidence summary judgment is essentially a pretrial directed verdict, and we apply the same legal sufficiency standard in reviewing a no-evidence summary judgment as we apply in reviewing a directed verdict. Wyatt v. Longoria, 33 S.W.3d 26, 31 (Tex.App.—El Paso 2000, no pet.); Moore v. K Mart Corp., 981 S.W.2d 266, 269 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1998, pet. denied); see also S.V. v. R.V., 933 S.W.2d 1, 8 (Tex.1996). We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the respondent against whom the no-evidence summary judgment was rendered, disregarding all contrary evidence and inferences. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Havner, 953 S.W.2d 706, 711 (Tex.1997); Wyatt, 33 S.W.3d at 31. A no-evidence summary judgment is improperly granted if the respondent brings forth more than a scintilla of probative evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact. Havner, 953 S.W.2d at 711; Wyatt, 33 S.W.3d at 31. Less than a scintilla of evidence exists when the evidence is “so weak as to do no more than create a mere surmise or suspicion” of a fact. Wyatt, 33 S.W.3d at 31; Ruiz v. Government Employees Ins. Co., 4 S.W.3d 838, 840 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1999, no pet.), citing Kindred v. Con/Chem, Inc., 650 S.W.2d 61, 63 (Tex.1983). More than a scintilla of evidence exists when the evi[269]*269dence “rises to a level that would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to differ in their conclusions.” Havner, 953 S.W.2d at 711; Wyatt, 33 S.W.3d at 31.

Causation — Phillips

Although it is not required to do so, Phillips offered summary judgment evidence in an effort to negate causation. According to an affidavit of Tom Atkins, Senior Land Specialist with Phillips Petroleum Company, Phillips is currently operating only one well located on Section 47 of the Walton Ranch. It “spudded” this well on December 9, 1978, and completed it on March 31, 1979. Atkins’ visual inspection of the well and review of certain records revealed no evidence that a salt water disposal pit had been used in connection with this well. In fact, the records indicate that produced water from the well is transported to a commercial salt water disposal facility. Phillips had previously possessed a leasehold interest in portions of Sections 35, 37, 43, and 47 but it assigned all of those oil and gas leasehold interests to Wood & Cockburn, Inc. on October 9, 1970. Additionally, it assigned all of the working interest in a lease located in the NW/4 of Section 47 to Midland Resources, Inc. in 1985.

In an effort to establish causation, Walton points to evidence that Phillips admittedly conducted oil and gas operations in Section 35 prior to 1970 and that a salt water disposal pit had been identified on the property by Mark Henkhaus, District Director for the Texas Railroad Commission, through the examination of aerial photographs. He also tendered the affidavit of Paul Dowling, a Technical Environmental Projects Manager, to show that the salt water disposal pit located adjacent to Walton’s water well on Section 35 is a probable source of the contamination of the water well. Similarly, Walton relied on the deposition testimony of George William Hartzoge, who had also formed the opinion that the source of contamination is more probably than not “a salt water pit.” Standing alone, evidence that Phillips conducted operations on a portion of Section 35 and that a salt water disposal pit is found on the section does not establish that Phillips actually utilized the pit for the disposal of production water. Following the summary judgment hearing, Walton offered additional evidence in an effort to establish causation. Through the testimony of Henkhaus, Walton showed that Phillips had operated the Beth A well and produced 10,732 barrels of salt water in 1961. When asked whether operators, twenty to thirty years earlier, put salt water into pits on the same lease from which it was produced, Henkhaus stated as follows:

[Answer]: Generally speaking, yes.

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Bluebook (online)
65 S.W.3d 262, 152 Oil & Gas Rep. 310, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 7930, 2001 WL 1513206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walton-v-phillips-petroleum-co-texapp-2001.