Court Opinion

ID: 9652964
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:36:09.536861+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:55.464266
License: Public Domain

McGEE, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
Recovery of exemplary damages under the worker’s compensation statute requires a showing of gross negligence, which has consistently been defined by this Court as that entire want of care which would raise the presumption of a conscious indifference to the consequences. Sheffield Division, Armco Steel Corporation v. Jones, 376 S.W.2d 825 (Tex.1964); Bennett v. Howard, 141 Tex. 101, 170 S.W.2d 709 (1943); Loyd Electric Company v. DeHoyos, 409 S.W.2d 893 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1966, writ ref’d). In each of these cases, the court considered the correct standard of review to support a recovery of exemplary damages in worker’s compensation cases. Each case concluded that if there is some evidence of care relative to the alleged negligence on the part of the defendant, the evidence fails to meet the requirement that there be an entire want of care.
In Sheffield, the plaintiffs urged the court to apply the same standard for reviewing the evidence to both automobile cases and worker’s compensation cases. Without conceding that a different standard is in fact applied, we distinguished the automobile cases. Under the guest statute, gross negligence had to be shown to recover compensatory damages. However, the plaintiff in a worker’s compensation case has already recovered compensatory damages and is only seeking exemplary or punitive damages. The strictly punitive nature of the damages to be recovered justifies a higher standard of review for worker’s compensation cases. We said:
“Gross negligence, to be the ground for exemplary damages, should be that entire want of care which would raise the belief that the act or omission complained of was the result of a conscious indifference to the right or welfare of the person or persons to be affected by it.” (Emphasis added).
There is no sound reason for overruling this settled rule of law and I would follow the holdings in Sheffield, Bennett v. Howard, and Loyd Electric. Recent civil appeals court decisions following the Sheffield rule include: Community Properties, Inc. v. Neely, 611 S.W.2d 947 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1981, writ pending); Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. v. Davis, 582 S.W.2d 191 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1979, no writ); Jay Fikes and Associates v. Walton, 578 S.W.2d 885 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1979, writ ref’d n. r. e.). See also: Clements v. Withers, 437 S.W.2d 818 (Tex.1969); Wilson N. Jones Memorial Hospital v. Davis, 553 S.W.2d 180 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1977, writ ref’d n. r. e.).
The majority after full consideration holds that the definition of gross negligence as reaffirmed by this Court in Sheffield is correct. Yet, by changing the manner of review, this definition would be significantly changed. It is held that the reviewing court should apply the “no evidence” test. Such review would require the reviewing court to consider only the evidence when viewed in its most favorable light that tends to support a jury finding of gross negligence and to disregard all evidence of care. This results in an abandonment of the long settled definition of “gross negligence.” It is fundamental that in applying the no evidence test, the reviewing court would not look at the totality of the evidence to determine if the act or omission complained of was the result of a conscious indifference to the right or welfare of the person or persons to be affected by it.
“Entire want of care” is now a misnomer. By changing the scope of review for gross *928negligence, we have also changed the way that we define gross negligence. The Court’s opinion leaves us with a definition of gross negligence that is called an “entire want of care,” but evidence of care by the defendant becomes irrelevant to determine if gross negligence has been established. If, on review, we disregard all evidence of care, we are clearly permitting recovery for less than an entire want of care. The established distinction between ordinary negligence and gross negligence has disappeared. This is particularly true if the reviewing court considers evidence of an employee’s conduct which was not found to be gross negligence by the jury, as has been done in this case.
I do not believe that Burk Royalty was guilty of gross negligence under the facts and circumstances of this case. Under the rule announced by the Court today, there must be some evidence that Swetnam was grossly negligent for Burk Royalty to be held liable for punitive damages. Under the “some care” test, we would look to see if there is any evidence of care on the part of Burk Royalty. Walls has not proved her case under either standard.
All of the evidence in this case clearly shows that the operations on the well in this case were routine and not considered highly dangerous by those in the industry. There are two methods discussed for removing fluid from tubing in the process of pulling tubing while servicing a well. The operator could either drop a charge and shoot a hole in the tubing, allowing the fluid to drain, or pull the tubing and swab it dry. The cost is the same for either method. Pulling tubing is a normal part of well servicing, and well servicing is a routine operation. Burk Royalty did a lot of pulling operations at the time of this accident, and had three pulling units working at the time. There is evidence that about 90 percent of all wells “gas” during these operations, meaning that gas will rise to the surface. There is also evidence that it was more unusual, but certainly not rare, for some oil to flow out with the gas. However, this was the first time in at least nine years in this field that oil had ever spewed with such force or that there had been a fire.
The pump broke on this well, necessitating the pulling of the tubing. The well was an old well in a low pressure field, which gave the company no reason to prefer dropping a charge over swabbing the wet tubing. The pulling crew consisted of three men and the operator, Billy Lay, who was the job-site supervisor. He was experienced in conducting pulling operations. There is uncontradicted evidence that they properly bled off the gas pressure at all stages of this operation. There is no evidence of the cause of the fire.
Billy Lay usually consulted with Boyd Ehl, one of the assistant district superintendents for Burk’s East Texas operations, concerning the method of removing fluid from tubing during pulling operations. On this particular day, Kenneth Swetnam, the district superintendent, came to the well site to deliver paychecks at about the time that a decision needed to be made concerning the method to be used. The decision was made to use the swabbing method. Swetnam was at the job site for only a few minutes, and was not present at the time of the fire. There is evidence that Burk Royalty has used the swabbing method since that time and does not consider it to be highly dangerous. If it had been considered a potentially dangerous operation, Boyd Ehl would have been present to constantly supervise.
Burk Royalty is being held liable because of the alleged gross negligence of its vice-principal, Kenneth Swetnam. There is nothing in this record to suggest that it was Swetnam’s job to inspect the well site for violation of safety rules, namely the presence and location of fire extinguishers, the use of a geronimo line, or the use of quick-release safety belts. It was not Swetnam’s job to place fire extinguishers at each job site.
This Court has previously denied recovery of exemplary damages where the plaintiff did not show that it was the personal duty of the employee named in the lawsuit. The general duties of the employer corporation are not automatically the personal duties of every managerial employee. Weingarten, *929Inc. v. Moore, 449 S.W.2d 452 (Tex.1970). See S. H. Kress & Co. v. Selph, 250 S.W.2d 883 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1952, writ ref'd n. r. e.).
Bennett v. Howard, supra, is a case with facts remarkably similar to this one. The plaintiffs based the right to recover exemplary damages on the field superintendent’s alleged gross negligence in instructing the crew foreman on the manner of running tubing into a well. We concluded:
“There is nothing in this record to show that Smith disclosed an ‘entire want of care’ or a ‘conscious indifference’ to the rights of the men working on the well at the time of the explosion. It is true that Smith gave the general orders as to how the tubing was to be placed in the well, but as to the details of how the work should be done, these seem to have been left to the judgment of the men .... Smith’s judgment in ordering the running of the tubing his way may have been wrong. This alone would not justify a recovery of exemplary damages.”
Burk Royalty’s safety director was Harlan Baker. He was not made a party to this lawsuit, and there was no jury issue inquiring about Baker’s negligence or gross negligence, if any.
There were two levels of supervisory personnel below Swetnam, both of which had safety responsibilities. Swetnam was the district superintendent for the entire East Texas area. His duties were to carry out management wishes. As district superintendent, he was generally responsible for safety within the area, to insure that the people working with equipment were aware of safety standards and regulations. Safety rules were promulgated, posted on bulletin boards, and given to every new employee. There is conflicting evidence on the regularity of safety meetings, but safety meetings were held. There were “no smoking” signs posted on this rig and rules concerning smoking. Fire extinguishers were required on every rig, and in every truck. The evidence is contradictory as to the location and number of fire extinguishers on this rig. Fire extinguishers were clearly provided by Burk Royalty. Safety rules also required use of a quick-release safety belt and a geronimo line during pulling operations.
There is no evidence that it was Swet-nam’s job to personally physically inspect every job site for safety, either on a routine basis or a spot-check basis. Boyd Ehl was responsible for immediate supervision of each well site, as he was the field foreman. His job was to circulate among job locations so that he was at each site three to four times daily. He constantly supervised potentially dangerous situations.
There is direct, uncontradicted testimony that it was Billy Lay’s job as the operator to see that fire extinguishers are checked for proper placement. There were no jury issues submitted concerning the negligence or gross negligence of either Boyd Ehl or Billy Lay.
The issue submitted asked if “Kenneth Swetnam failed to follow approved safety practices for pulling wet tubing.” There is no evidence that Swetnam violated any approved safety practices in the choice of method for removing fluid from the tubing. There is no evidence to indicate that Swet-nam should have personally supervised operations under approved safety standards. In short, there is no evidence that Swetnam was guilty of gross negligence in carrying out any of his safety duties.
The court relies on evidence of negligence on the part of many people other than Swetnam. It also creates inspection duties for Swetnam. It also attempts to make a routine oil field operation into something so highly unusual as to merit the personal supervision of someone in Swetnam’s capacity.
This record also shows evidence of “some care” on the part of Kenneth Swetnam and Burk Royalty. Therefore, I would not hold Burk Royalty liable under either standard and would reverse the judgment of the court of civil appeals.
DENTON and BARROW, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.