Opinion ID: 1120598
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Is Custom A Standard?

Text: We cannot believe, under the circumstances of this case, with its admitted dangers, that adopted procedures and the manner of completing previous wells by Pan American and other companies established a standard of care conclusively binding upon the jury. In Maize v. Atlantic Refining Co., supra, 41 A.2d at 853, it was emphasized that customary methods of conduct do not furnish a test which is conclusive or controlling on the question of negligence, or fix a standard by which negligence is to be gauged. Conformity to custom is not in itself the exercise of due care. Annotation 68 A.L.R. 1400, 1401, and cases cited. Custom may be evidence bearing upon the question of negligence, but the standard is not fixed by custom. The standard is always due care. The presence or absence of custom does not alter that standard. Custom may assist in the determination of what constitutes due care. What others do is some evidence of what should be done, but custom is never a substitute for due care. Pauly v. King, 44 Cal.2d 649, 284 P.2d 487, 490; Owen v. Rheem Mfg. Co., 83 Cal. App.2d 42, 187 P.2d 785, 786-787. The same idea has been heretofore expressed for our court by Justice Harnsberger in Rocky Mountain Trucking Company v. Taylor, 79 Wyo. 461, 335 P.2d 448, 451, in these words:    An operational practice, although long indulged in, but which does not afford reasonable protection for those engaged in that operation, does not relieve from liability those responsible if it results in negligently causing injury or damage. Having said custom is evidence but not a conclusive standard of due care, we would again pause to point out that we cannot pass upon the question as to whether the safety equipment and operational methods specified by Pan American were adequate and proper under the circumstances, nor whether it used every reasonable precaution suggested by experience and the known dangers. These, of course, are matters solely within the province of the jury.