Opinion ID: 1120598
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Was the Standard Applied Proper?

Text: In considering whether or not the jury in this case appears to have used a proper or improper standard of care, against which to measure the defendant's actions, we think it was entitled to consider the dangerous character of the agency with which defendant was dealing. The testimony of witnesses discloses Pan American was drilling its fifty-third well in the Beaver Creek area, a known gas field, with other producing gas wells in the vicinity. Prior to the accident an electrical log of the well had been run by Schlumberger Well Surveying Corporation. Also, a drill-stem test had been made in the formation which was being treated. These tests indicated the presence of gas, and the well was perforated at the section tested. On the day previous to the accident a hydraulic-fracture process, sometimes called sand frac treatment, was performed in the known gas producing formation. The purpose of this treatment was to stimulate the formation so as to enable the production to come out more freely. Attorneys for Pan American admit in their brief that the drilling and completion of an oil well is always a hazardous undertaking, and that serious accidents can and do occur. Consequently, the standard of care which the jury was entitled to apply in deciding whether defendant was negligent must be measured on the basis of the hazards known to exist. In making this statement, we think we are justified in adopting certain guides set forth in 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 66, pp. 557-558, and in 38 Am.Jur., Negligence, § 85, pp. 743-744. We confine ourselves, however, to the following which seem to be supported by a clear weight of case authority: 1. It is generally the rule that a person knowingly dealing with a dangerous agency must exercise care commensurate with the danger of injury involved. In other words, he must exercise ordinary care, having regard to all of the circumstances involved. Williams v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 5 Cir., 190 F.2d 744, 747; Dow v. Holly Manufacturing Company, 49 Cal.2d 720, 321 P.2d 736, 740; Robert R. Walker, Inc., v. Burgdorf, 150 Tex. 603, 244 S.W.2d 506, 508-509; Runkel v. City of New York, 282 App.Div. 173, 123 N.Y.S.2d 485, 488-489; Farmers Home Mutual Ins. Co. v. Gustafson & Larson Co., 73 S.D. 313, 42 N.W.2d 605, 606. 2. A higher degree of care is required in dealing with a dangerous agency than in the ordinary affairs of life or business which involve little or no risk. This care is sometimes described as a high degree of care, or a very high degree of care, or in some instances as the utmost care or extreme care. Warner v. Santa Catalina Island Company, 44 Cal.2d 310, 282 P.2d 12, 16-17; Carr v. Kentucky Utilities Company, Ky., 301 S.W.2d 894, 898-899; Kuhns v. Brugger, 390 Pa. 331, 135 A.2d 395, 400, 68 A.L.R.2d 761; Helm v. South Penn Oil Company, 382 Pa. 437, 114 A.2d 909, 911; Branstetter v. Robbins, 178 Kan. 8, 283 P.2d 455, 460. 3. While no absolute standard of duty in dealing with dangerous agencies can be prescribed, it is safe to say in general terms that every reasonable precaution suggested by experience and the known dangers of the subject ought to be taken. Rakowski v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 5 N.J. Super. 203, 68 A.2d 641, 643; Maize v. Atlantic Refining Co., 352 Pa. 51, 41 A.2d 850, 852, 160 A.L.R. 449; MacDougall v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 311 Pa. 387, 166 A. 589, 592; La Plant v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company, Mo., 346 S.W.2d 231, 240; Independent-Eastern Torpedo Co. v. Price, 208 Okl. 633, 258 P.2d 189, 197. In view of the admitted and proven hazardous circumstances connected with Pan American's well, we cannot say as a matter of law that the jury applied an erroneous standard of care. Therefore, the narrow question in this case boils down to whether we can say as a matter of law that Pan American used every reasonable precaution suggested by experience and the known dangers of its well. If there was any substantial evidence of a failure in this regard, then a question of fact for the jury was presented.