Halliburton Co. v. Scroggins
| Decision Date | 11 December 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 45246,45246 |
| Citation | 520 P.2d 667,1973 OK 152 |
| Parties | HALLIBURTON COMPANY and R. B. Hamill, Petitioners, v. Kay Frances SCROGGINS, Executrix of the Estate of Jerry Wayne Scroggins, Deceased, Respondent. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Alex Cheek and John D. Cheek, Oklahoma City, Sam T. Allen, III, and David H. Loeffler, Sapulpa, John B. Cooper, Duncan, for petitioners.
Watson & Watson, Drumright, Hart, Rennie & McLain, Pauls Valley, Watts, Looney, Nichols & Johnson, Oklahoma City, for respondent.
There is presented here by defendants in the trial court, Halliburton Company and R. B. Hamill, a petition for certiorari for the review of a certified interlocutory order. The action in the trial court (the District Court of Creek County) was for damages for wrongful death, and the order certified for review was an order overruling each defendant's demurrer to the petition, motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff in the trial court was Kay Frances Scroggins, Executrix of the Estate of Jerry Wayne Scroggins, deceased. We are asked to apply what is called the doctrine of preclusion against inconsistent positions in judicial proceedings.
The facts necessary to an understanding of the arguments presented may be briefly summarized. Scroggins was an employee of Shebester, Inc., an oil well servicing company. On December 26, 1969, allegedly while working on a well in Garvin County, he was exposed to certain toxic chemicals. He thereafter developed a condition called apastic anemia and became disabled. On April 7, 1970, he instituted a proceeding before the State Industrial Court for compensation, alleging that his condition was caused by the exposure on December 26, 1969, while employed by Shebester. Depositions were taken and hearings had, and on July 30, 1970, the trial judge entered an order for the payment of temporary total compensation, based upon findings that his condition was caused by 'exposure of toxic chemicals' in the course of his employment during December, 1969, and January, 1970.
This order became final and the compensation was paid.
On September 18, 1970, in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Scroggins filed an action for damages for personal injury based on negligence, against Halliburton Company, Welex, Inc., a Halliburton subsidiary, later determined to have been merged with the parent company, Halliburton, and a named Welex employee, alleging that he was permanently and totally disabled, that his life expectancy had been shortened to two years, and that his condition resulted from exposure to radiation poisoning on September 20, 1969. while working for Shebester on a well in Oklahoma County, at a time when Welex was treating the same well with a highly radioactive substance (iodine 131). The action in Oklahoma County was later dismissed without prejudice and a similar action was filed against Halliburton and Hamill, a Halliburton employee, in the District Court of Creek County. This is the action in which the interlocutory order was later certified for review.
On October 29, 1970, pursuant to a stipulation made by the claimant and respondents, the trial judge of the State Industrial Court entered an order in the compensation case changing the findings in the order for payment of compensation for temporary total disability to show that the aplastic anemia from which Scroggins was suffering had been caused by his exposure to radiation on September 20, 1969.
Scroggins died on March 3, 1971. Thereafter, by appropriate pleadings and amendments, the personal injury action in the District Court of Creek County became an action for damages for wrongful death with Kay Frances Scroggins, the executrix of his estate, as the plaintiff. She also instituted a new proceeding against the same employer in the State Industrial Court for death benefits under the Workman's Compensation Law, alleging that Scroggins' death resulted from his exposure to radiation poisoning on September 20, 1969. On April 1, 1971, an award of death benefits was made in an order finding that Scroggins died of aplastic anemia which resulted from an accidental injury in the course of his employment with Shebester, Inc., consisting of an exposure to radiation poisoning on September 20, 1969. This award became final and has been paid.
In the Creek County action for damages for wrongful death, after voluminous pleadings, motions and amendments which need not be considered here, the defendants separately filed demurrers to the petition, ...
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...court found for purposes of establishing Travelers' workers' compensation liability to the employee. Accord Halliburton Co. v. Scroggins, 1973 OK 152, 520 P.2d 667. It is not clear why Travelers accepted an earlier date of injury for its workers' compensation liability than the date that al......
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Halliburton Co. v. District Court of Creek County, Drumright Division
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