Harmon v. Sohio Pipeline Co.
| Decision Date | 12 November 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. C-306,C-306 |
| Citation | 623 S.W.2d 314 |
| Parties | W. B. HARMON, Petitioner, v. SOHIO PIPELINE COMPANY, Respondent. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Wellborn, Houston, Bailey, Perry & Adkinson, Blake Bailey, Henderson, for petitioner.
Nichols, Merriman, Patterson & Allison, Stephen R. Patterson and Rex A. Nichols, Longview, for respondent.
W. B. Harmon brought this suit against Sohio Pipeline Company to recover for damages to Harmon's land caused by an oil spill. The oil spill occurred as the result of the failure of a gasket on a valve on Sohio's pipeline. The trial court rendered judgment for Harmon on the jury verdict. 1 The court of civil appeals concluded that there was insufficient evidence as to Sohio's negligence. It reversed the trial court judgment and remanded the cause for a new trial. 613 S.W.2d 577. Only Harmon has filed an application for writ of error. We reverse the judgment of the court of civil appeals and remand the cause to that court.
It is well settled that this Court does not have jurisdiction to review the question of factual insufficiency of the evidence. See Tex.Const. art. V, § 2; Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 1728; Tippett v. Brannon, 493 S.W.2d 511 (Tex.1973); Calvert, "No Evidence" and "Insufficient Evidence" Points of Error, 38 Texas L.Rev. 361 (1960). We do, however, possess jurisdiction to determine whether the court of civil appeals applied the proper rules of law in reaching its conclusion. Puryear v. Porter, 153 Tex. 82, 264 S.W.2d 689 (1954).
Harmon asserts by two points of error that the court of civil appeals erred in its application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Specifically, Harmon asserts that the doctrine was determinative of the negligence issue because there was no evidence offered by Sohio to rebut the inference of negligence and that the court of civil appeals erred in requiring evidence of specific acts of negligence in addition to the inference invoked by application of the res ipsa doctrine.
Harmon owned a 65-acre tract of land in Rusk County that was crossed by a Sohio pipeline which transported crude oil from field gatherings to a refinery. In 1978 the gasket on a scrapper valve on the pipeline failed and a large quantity of crude oil spilled onto and over Harmon's land. Sohio, through its district supervisor, immediately assumed responsibility for the spill and began clean-up operations. Sohio employees worked on the operation for more than three months and Sohio spent $43,800 in attempting to remove all of the crude oil and its residue. Nevertheless, Harmon did not believe the oil residue was satisfactorily removed and filed this suit.
The evidence at the trial primarily related to the question of whether Sohio had removed all of the oil residue and the extent of the damages, if any, sustained by Harmon. There was little evidence regarding the cause of the oil spill. Sohio's district supervisor conceded that the gasket on the valve had failed. He further admitted that the gaskets must be replaced from time to time and that this one had deteriorated before it was replaced. He qualified this answer, however, by stating that the word "deterioration" was academic. He admitted that there was a malfunction in the gasket. Sohio offered no evidence to explain the cause of the gasket malfunction or failure.
There was no objection by Sohio to the trial court's inclusion of an instruction on res ipsa loquitur in the charge to the jury. Although the court of civil appeals did not directly hold that the res ipsa doctrine applied, it assumed that the doctrine was applicable. Nevertheless, it held that the evidence was factually insufficient to support the jury finding of negligence because there was no evidence of improper inspection or maintenance or that Sohio deviated from the standard of care within the pipeline industry as to the maintenance of the pipeline. Harmon urges, and we agree, that assuming the proper application of the res ipsa doctrine, there was no necessity for Harmon to introduce evidence of specific acts of negligence.
The proper use of the res ipsa doctrine was set forth by this Court in Mobil Chemical Co. v. Bell, 517 S.W.2d 245 (Tex.1974). We said that the doctrine is applicable when two factors are present: (1) the character of the accident is such that it would not ordinarily occur in the absence of negligence; and (2...
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