Woodley Petroleum Co. v. Willis

• Decision Date: 17 January 1927
• Docket Number: 109
• Citation: 290 S.W. 953,172 Ark. 671
• Parties: WOODLEY PETROLEUM COMPANY v. WILLIS
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

290 S.W. 953

172 Ark. 671

WOODLEY PETROLEUM COMPANY v. WILLIS

No. 109

Supreme Court of Arkansas

January 17, 1927

Appeal from Union Circuit Court, Second Division; W. A. Speer Judge; affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Roscoe R. Lynn, Marsh & Marlin, and Buzbee, Pugh & Harrison, for appellant.

Powell Smead & Knox and C. E. Wright, for appellee.

OPINION

HUMPHREYS, J.

Appellee instituted this suit against appellant in the circuit court of Union County to recover damages in the sum of $ 50,000 for injuries received by him on account of the alleged negligence of the foreman of appellant in ordering appellee into a dangerous place to perform his work and in failing to provide a reasonably safe place in which said work could be performed. The gist of the complaint is that he received permanent injuries, which entailed great pain and suffering, in attempting to obey the order of appellant's foreman to ascend a beam inclined to an unusual angle, and which was covered with fresh oil and mud, for the purpose of slipping a sand-trap hanging to a cable in an oil well derrick over a standing-valve in order to put tubing and piping back which had been pulled out of said well to clean it.

Appellant filed an answer to the complaint, denying the material allegations therein relative to the negligence and injury, and interposing the further defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of the risk.

The cause was submitted to a jury upon the pleadings, testimony adduced by the respective parties, and the instructions of the court, resulting in a judgment in favor of appellee in the sum of $ 20,000, from which is this appeal.

The first and main contention of appellant for a reversal of the judgment is that the undisputed facts reflected by the record show that appellee assumed the risk of whatever injuries he received, and that the trial court erred in refusing to peremptorily instruct a verdict in its favor.

In analyzing the testimony to ascertain whether appellant is correct in its contention, the settled rule of this court requires that the facts be viewed by the court in the most favorable light to appellee, and to affirm the verdict and judgment if there is any substantial evidence to sustain them.

Reviewing the evidence responsive to the issue of the assumption of risk in the most favorable light to appellee, the facts are about as follows:

The accident occurred eight months before appellee attained his majority. He quit school at the age of fourteen years, having reached the eighth grade; he then worked at almost anything around sawmills for four years. He then moved from Texas, his native State, to Louisiana, where he engaged for two years in the oil business, doing nearly every kind of work connected with drilling oil wells, except the work of a derrick-man. In December, 1921, he came to the Arkansas oil-fields, and commenced to work for appellant in the capacity of a roustabout. The duties of a roustabout were to pull rods and tubing in an oil well. About two months before the injury occurred he was promoted to the position of derrick-man, when it became his duty to do all of the work up in the derrick, which required that he walk, crawl, and climb from one place to another. Appellant was pumping four wells on its lease, and appellee was serving as derrick-man on all four of the wells. When the wells clogged or sanded up, in order to clean them it was necessary to pull the tubing and piping out of them, and, in replacing it the quickest way, it was necessary for the derrick-man to climb up the samson-post and go out on the walking-beam to slip the sand-trap, or large pipe hanging to the cable in the derrick, over the standing-valve or smaller pipe, in order to connect them. There was a safer but slower way of replacing the tubing and pipes by disconnecting the standing-pipe on the floor of the derrick and inserting it in the trap before pulling the trap up and hanging same to the cable in the derrick. The walking-beam is a heavy piece of timber, 14 inches across the top, 22 inches thick in the middle, but tapering towards the ends, and 26 feet long, supported in the center by the samson-post, which is a strong piece of timber 15 feet long, standing firmly in an upright position. The inside end of the beam is directly over the well, to which the rod is attached that goes to the bottom of the well and operates the pump when the walking-beam works up and down, by a timber called a "pitman" connecting the outside end thereof to an eccentric wheel turned by an engine. On April 19, 1922, the well on which appellee was working as derrick-man, under the direction of O. C. Willis, foreman for appellant, clogged with sand, and, in order to clean it, the tubing and piping was pulled out and disconnected about every 60 feet. The sections were about 20 feet long. The tubing and piping were covered with oil and mud, which dripped onto the floor and other parts of the derrick. After the tubing and piping had been pulled out, they began bailing the sand out of the well, and continued this work at intervals for about two and one-half hours. The bailing line was saturated with oil and mud, which dripped on the walking-beam continuously and covered it with oil and mud, making it slick and dangerous. The pitman had broken through the floor and rested on the ground, causing the walking-beam to incline to the dangerous angle of 45 degrees. A short time after the bailing was finished, and before the oil and mud had dried, or dripped off the walking-beam, the foreman and employees cleaned out the sand-trap, pulled it up in the derrick, and started to put the tubing and piping back into the well by the quickest method in order to get through without having to work overtime. They made an effort to pull the trap down over the standing-valve, but could not get it stabbed in without sending a man out on the beam to hold and slip the trap over the standing-valve, so the foreman told appellee to go up on the beam and stab the large pipe over the small one in order to finish the work up, and call it a day. Appellee attempted to obey the order by climbing the samson-post and crawling out on the walking-beam on his hands and knees. He had gone only a few feet when he slipped off the beam, on account of its slick condition and the angle at which it stood, and fell to the floor on the tubing and piping, resulting in a fracture of his skull and three of his ribs. The injuries rendered him unconscious for fifteen or twenty minutes. After being restored to consciousness by dashing water into his face, he was taken to a hospital, where a trephine operation was performed upon his head by removing the pressure of the skull from his brain. He remained in the hospital for treatment for about a month, during which time he endured much pain and suffering. At the time of the injury he weighed 180 pounds, and thereafter lost 27 pounds, weighing only 153 pounds at the time of the trial, some three years after the injury. As soon as the wound healed he began to work at intervals, but could not do so long at a time, on account of pains in his head, dizziness, and nervousness. There is testimony in the record tending to show that his injuries are permanent.

Appellee testified that he had gone out on the walking-beam frequently to perform his duties incident to his employment, but had never done so when the beam was covered with fresh oil and mud, or when it was inclined to an angle of 45 degrees; that he went up on the samson-post and out on the beam in...