Schexneider v. United Geophysical Corp.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1980
• Docket Number: No. 7560,7560
• Parties: Saule SCHEXNEIDER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED GEOPHYSICAL CORP. et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 533

385 So.2d 533

Saule SCHEXNEIDER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED GEOPHYSICAL CORP. et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 7560.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

May 21, 1980.

Rehearing Denied July 16, 1980.

Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier & Roy, John E. McElligott, Jr., Lafayette, for defendants-appellants.

John Rixie Mouton, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before FORET, SWIFT and STOKER, JJ.

FORET, Judge.

The plaintiff, Saule Schexneider, brought this action to recover damages to his deep water well caused by the defendants' seismographic operations. The trial court found for the plaintiff and awarded damages in the amount of $13,600.00. We amend and affirm.

In early 1978, the defendants, Atlantic Richfield, United Geophysical Corporation, and Joseph Faulk were engaged in seismographic operations on the plaintiff's land. The tests were conducted by exploding one-pound shots in the ground and measuring the vibrations. One such test was made within 287 feet of the plaintiff's deep water well which was used for irrigation purposes.

The deep water well was drilled in 1962 and was used to irrigate approximately 75 acres of land yearly. This land was used primarily for rice farming by the plaintiff's son-in-law, Robert Landry.

Shortly before the seismic tests, Mr. Landry had used the irrigation well to flood approximately 20 acres of rice land for duck hunting. At that time, Mr. Landry testified, the well operated to its usual capacity with normal efficiency. The next time the well was used, several weeks after the seismic operations, the plaintiff discovered the well's capacity was reduced in half.

The trial judge found that the detonation of the one-pound charge 287 feet from the well caused a diminution in the capacity of the well which rendered it unsuitable for irrigation purposes.

The defendants argue on appeal that the trial judge committed manifest error in his factual determination that the reduced productivity from the well was caused by the seismic operations. We disagree.

At the outset it must be observed that the doctrine of strict liability applies in this case. Roshong v. Travelers Insurance Company, 281 So.2d 785 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1973). LSA-C.C. Article 667.

In addition to the plaintiff and his son-in-law, Mr. Landry, who both testified that the well's capacity had decreased by approximately one-half as a result of the seismic operations, the trial court heard testimony from Mr. Willie Arceneaux, vice-president of Stamm-Sheele, Inc., a well service and drilling corporation from Rayne, Louisiana.

Mr. Arceneaux, who has been in the deep water well drilling business since 1946 and supervised the drilling of the plaintiff's well in 1962, visited and examined the plaintiff's well on February 15, 1979. He was familiar with the capacity of the well prior to the defendants' seismic operations, having examined the well approximately three years before the seismic tests were made. Mr. Arceneaux testified that when he examined the well after the seismic operations it was producing from about one-half to two-thirds of its capacity. He further explained that when the capacity of a well is decreased by the well's sanding up, the decrease comes about slowly and progressively, and the same applies when the decrease in productivity is caused by a falling water table. Due to the sudden decreased efficiency of the plaintiff's well, Mr. Arceneaux ruled out both of those possible explanations for the trouble.

Mr. Arceneaux noted the presence of oil on the water which indicated that one of the seals in the well had been jarred out of place, permitting air to enter the pumping system and causing the decrease in volume. He explained that he had never seen this type of defect occur unless the seal was damaged by an explosion. This witness also testified that the mud and sand seen by Mr. Schexneider, when he used the well after the seismic operations, could only have been caused by a vibration in the formation which moved the unconsolidated material around the screen in the well.

Mr. Arceneaux further testified that in his opinion the seals in the well which had been jarred out of place could be replaced for the sum of $3,500.00 or $4,000.00. However, this would not eliminate the problem of the well sanding up. The only way to alleviate this problem would be to pull out the well and go back into the hole, which would be a costly operation, with no guarantee of success. Consequently, he recommended that this well be abandoned and a new well drilled which could be done at a cost of $15,000.00.

The defendants produced two witnesses to say that in their opinion the decreased productivity of plaintiff's irrigation well was not caused by the seismic tests. However, an examination of their qualifications and testimony reveal that the trial court was not clearly wrong in accepting the testimony of Mr. Arceneaux over that of the defendants' experts. The latter had no experience with irrigation wells, knew very little about the operation and component parts of irrigation wells, and the gist of their testimony was that they had not experienced any detriment to irrigation wells resulting from seismic tests. However, neither testified that t...