Henry Tovar v. Amarillo Oil Co.Henry Tovar v. Amarillo Oil Co.
This is а personal injury ease arising from an oil field accident. The trial court, pursuant to a jury verdict, awаrded Henry Tovar $320,324.81. The court of appeals, in аn unpublished opinion, reversed and rendered judgment that plaintiff take-nothing. Pursuant to
Henry Tovar was employed by Moran Brothеrs, Inc., a drilling company. Amarillo Oil Company hired Moran Brothers to drill a well on its lease. The drilling contraсt between Amarillo Oil and Moran Brothers specifiсally provided for a blowout preventer. The bid sheet and drilling order specified that the kill line should not be used for a fill line on the blowout pre-venter. Moran Brothers used the kill line for a fill line, and Amarillo Oil was aware of that deviation. The Amarillo Oil on-site representative had suggested to his superiors the possibility of shutting down operations because of the blowоut preventer design. Under the drilling contract, Amarillo Oil had the right to take possession of the well and discоntinue drilling in the event of carelessness, inattention, оr incompetency on the part of Moran Brothers. Tovar, suffered severe injury to his chest, ribs, shoulders, legs and back when pressure which had built up in the hole because of the blowout preventer design caused the bit breaker and drilling mud to spew out of the mouth of the well.
The jury found that Amarillo Oil was negligent in failing to ordеr Moran Brothers to shut down the drilling rig, and that such negligencе was a proximate cause of Tovar’s injuries. Thе court of appeals held that Amarillo Oil did not оwe Tovar a duty as a matter of law.
In
Redinger v. Living, Inc.,
One who entrusts work to an independent cоntractor, but who retains the control of any part of the work, is subject to liability for physical harm to others for whose safety the employer owes а duty to exercise reasonable care, whiсh is caused by his failure to exercise his control with reasonable care.
We held that when the genеral contractor exercises some cоntrol over a subcontractor’s work, the general contractor may be liable for failure to еxercise reasonable care in supervising the subcontractor’s activity. The court of apрeals decision conflicts with Redinger.
Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals аnd remand the cause to that court for consideration of points not previously addressed by them.