Court Opinion

ID: 9449474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:13:31.232786+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:51.224242
License: Public Domain

LEWIS, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I would affirm the judgment of the trial court in its entirety. While the acts of Tidewater which resulted in damage to respondents were undertaken pursuant to a valid order of the Kansas Corporation Commission and were committed in a manner not violative of a principle of conservation (and, hence, in this limited concept, “in accordance” with the order and lawfully carried out or done within the narrow authority of the Corporation Commission’s jurisdiction), still I do not consider this to be dispositive of the question of punitive damage. The administrative order is not an impenetrable shield against actionable wrong in tort, much less, as here, a bar or deterrent to the application of legal principles penalizing wanton and reckless conduct. The trial court found, and I do not understand the majority to dispute the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding, that Tidewater so located its water injection sites and needlessly and deliberately injected excessive quantities of water for the purpose of destroying the productivity of respondents’ wells. This conduct upon the part of Tidewater did not adversely affect conservation (and the Corporation Commission so found) but it did evince a reckless disregard of the rights of respondents (and the trial court so found). I am of the opinion that the trial court committed no error in assessing punitive damages.