Morefield v. Ozark Pipe Line Corporation

• Decision Date: 25 August 1928
• Docket Number: No. 484.,484.
• Citation: 27 F.2d 890
• Parties: MOREFIELD v. OZARK PIPE LINE CORPORATION et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Oklahoma

27 F.2d 890 (1928)

MOREFIELD v. OZARK PIPE LINE CORPORATION et al.

No. 484.

District Court, N. D. Oklahoma.

August 25, 1928.

Moss & Young, of Tulsa, Okl., for plaintiff.

Green & Farmer, of Tulsa, Okl., and Joe T. Dickerson and Koerner, Fahey & Young, all of St. Louis, Mo., for defendant Ozark Pipe Line Corporation.

KENNAMER, District Judge.

This is an action against the Ozark Pipe Line Corporation, organized under the laws of the state of Maryland, and C. C. Ingram and L. F. Young, citizens and residents of Oklahoma, by the widow and next of kin of Thomas H. Morefield, for the wrongful death of Morefield. The case was removed from the state court of Creek county, Okl., to the federal court, and is pending on plaintiffs motion to remand.

It is alleged in plaintiff's petition that the deceased was employed by the Ozark Pipe Line Corporation as a pumper, and was engaged in the operation of a certain engine; that the engine was located in a small sheet iron building; that, adjacent and attached to the sheet iron pump house, there was a small room, inclosed with sheet iron which was used as an office, in which there was a small gas stove; that there were no floors in the buildings, and that the sheet iron buildings did not extend to the ground; that the exhaust pipe from the engine extended through the tin roof of the pump house; that while the deceased was in the pump house, on January 18, 1927, engaged in the performance of his duties as an employee of the Ozark Pipe Line Corporation, a gasket in or about the check valve of the pump blew out, and as a result the clothing worn by the deceased instantly became saturated with crude oil, and the crude oil and the natural gases which it contained became ignited by the exhaust pipe and the sparks and burning soot discharged from the gas stove in the office, and the pump house became filled with burning oil and natural gases, setting fire to the clothing of the deceased, resulting in his death.

It is further alleged that the defendant C. C. Ingram was the field and division superintendent of the defendant corporation and charged with the duty of keeping and maintaining the engine, pump, buildings, and office at the pump station in repair, and of making inspections to ascertain any lack of repair in the buildings or machinery. It is alleged that the defendant L. F. Young was an employee of the defendant Ozark Pipe Line corporation, as assistant to the general superintendent, and had active charge and control of the pipe line, including the pump station at which the deceased met his death; that it was the duty of the defendant Young to inspect and cause to be inspected, and to repair and cause to be repaired, the pump station and machinery. The petition charges that the defendants were guilty of negligence in permitting the gasket to become old, worn, and loosened in its attachments; that they neglected to inspect the pump and check valve and the gasket; that the defendants negligently erected and installed the engine and pump so near one to the other, so that, when a gasket blew out, the gases and oil would become ignited by the engine; that the defendants negligently installed the engine with an exhaust pipe which ran through the roof of the building, knowing that the exhaust pipe became heated to such an extent that it would ignite crude oil and gases contained in the said room; that the defendants were negligent in not installing the exhaust pipe under the surface of the...