Court Opinion

ID: 9445775
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:38:04.873071+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:24.442855
License: Public Domain

HUXMAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The burden rested upon the insurance company to establish by convincing evidence not only that a blowout, as defined by us in the Elliott case, occurred but also that it preceded the fire and was the cause thereof, and that but for such blowout no fire would have occurred. The court recognized the difficulty under the facts of the case of clearly establishing what did in fact occur, but that did not relieve the insurance company of the burden of proving that a sudden forceful eruption occurred, sufficient to constitute a blowout, and that this preceded the fire and was the cause thereof.
I search the record in vain to find any facts supporting or tending to support a finding that a sudden forceful violent rending or eruptive force took place at the bottom of the hole at any time, let alone preceding the fire. The court did not base its findings of an explosion on the expert testimony. In fact, it held in effect that such testimony was insufficient to support such a finding. Neither did the court point to any evidence showing or tending to show that a violent disturbance sufficient to constitute an explosion occurred at the bottom of the hole at any time, let alone at a time preceding the fire. The court concluded that the welling over of the oil as last observed before the fire was no blowout. The court also found that “The evidence does not permit any finding of the exact agency or cause which ignited the fire.”
The only direct evidence of what occurred preceding the fire was by the drillers who were in charge of and operating the well, and their undisputed evidence is that nothing unusual occurred preceding the fire which interfered with their operation of the well, and save for the fire alone they could have continued to operate the well. Buskirk was on the monkey board holding the tubing which they were readying to place into the hole. He* testified that they started going into the hole with the tool; that oil came out of the hole; and that it had done so for about the five or six preceding stands of pipe which had been put in the hole; and that oil was coming out most of the time while he was holding on to the tubing. He testified that nothing unusual occurred during the operations preceding the fire and that he left when the fire started. Goodrich, the driller, was asked what unusual occurrences he had observed on that occasion. He answered, “Well, the only thing unusual that I seen was the fire.” He was asked, “Q. Now, between the time you started to put that last stand, couple it onto the tube, and the time of the fire, did anything happen which had not happened in the previous five or six times ? A. No. Not particularly, no.
“Q. Then except for the fire, nothing had occurred different than had, than you had been doing before? A. That’s right.” From this evidence it appears that no noticeable incident occurred preceding the fire. In fact, nothing had occurred which indicated turbulence or disturbance in the hole. The tools did not come out of the hole. They remained undisturbed in the hole. The casing was not bent or twisted in any way. All the property at the well remained the same as before save for the damage that was done by the fire and, aside from the short time the fire burned, the well and its equipment was in the same condition as before. What caused the fire the court could not say. It found that “The evidence does not permit any finding of the exact agency or ' cause which ignited the fire.” But before the company may escape liability there must be a finding based upon competent evi*397dence not only that there was a blowout but furthermore that it was the proximate cause of the fire. Even if there had been a blowout which caused the eruption of large quantities of gas or hurled the tools out of the hole, the company would be liable if the sole cause of the fire was that a match was lit at the top of the hole. To merely speculate or surmise what may have occurred at the bottom of the hole is not sufficient. There must be sufficient proof of what did actually occur upon which to make a finding. I fail to find any evidence or circumstances sufficient to support a finding that a blowout occurred, as that term is used, and that the fire was the proximate result of a blowout.
For these reasons, I must respectfully dissent from the conclusions of my Associates.