Duvall v. White
Duvall v. White
Opinion of the Court
Respondents have made a fair statement of the case which we substantially adopt. From the complaint it appears that certain oil companies were operating in Kern County, and that waste oil escaped from their works and flowed down a watercourse adjoining their lands. This oil was carried by the water beyond the lands operated by *307 said companies, across lands claimed and occupied by defendants, then beyond these and across other land until it was carried into a lake known as Buena Vista Lake. In consequence of the danger of the oil contaminating the waters of the lake, the operators constructed a dam below their lands and near the lake for the purpose of preventing said contamination, The operators then orally agreed with the plaintiffs that if they would maintain the dam and construct other works to prevent the oil from flowing into the lake they should be entitled to the waste oil escaping from the operators’ property that was. saved by means of the dam. The plaintiffs, thereupon, constructed said works for saving said oil. These works were constructed on the lands of the Kern Trading and Oil Company with the consent of that company. Afterward the defendants herein began the construction of works on lands occupied by them lying below the lands of the oil companies and above the lands of the Kern Trading and Oil Company with the alleged intention of diverting the escaping oil ordinarily flowing down on the waters of the stream to the dams of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs thereupon brought this suit to enjoin the defendants “from obstructing, diverting or in any way interfering with the flow of said oil and water to plaintiffs herein.” The defendants demurred on the general ground and on the special grounds that the complaint was uncertain and ambiguous and unintelligible in certain respects and that there was a misjoinder of parties plaintiff. The demurrer was sustained without leave to amend and the appeal is from the judgment entered thereupon.
*309 We are satisfied that the operators had no such interest in the oil after it left their premises that they could bind intervening land owners by such a contract as the one involved herein. The true position, as we conceive it, is that after the oil was carried beyond said "premises it became what may be designated abandoned property and it was entirely beyond the control of said operators. While the oil remained on their land they could have impounded it or authorized another to do so, but having been allowed to escape, it became subject to disposition with the water; In 18 R. C. L. 1205, it is said: “Both petroleum and gas, as long as they remain in the ground, are a part of the realty. They belong to the owner of the land and are a part of it as long as they are on it, or in it, or subject to his control. When they escape and go into other hands or come under another’s control, the title of the former owner is gone.”
A large number of cases is cited in support of the text including decisions from the United States supreme court, and they justify said statement of the rule.
We may add that other authorities affirm the same doctrine, but they need not be specifically noticed.
Appellants, in support of their contention, cite Dougherty v. Creary, 30 Cal. 290, [89 Am. Dec. 116], but it is not inconsistent with the position of respondents herein. That case involved a controversy among the tenants in common and related to the diversion on their own property of water and gold-bearing earth conducted by flumes from the mining claim. The rights of third parties were not litigated, but the diversion was made, as found by the court, for the benefit of the owners of the said mining claim. It is true, though, that the court said: “So long as the miners of the basin and the Blue Point Mining Company abandoned the water and tailings which passed from their mining grounds, the Cheek and Ackley Flume Company had the right to take and appropriate the same to its own use and upon the passage of the water and earth through that flume, the Side Hill Flume had the right to take and appropriate what so passed through the Cheek and Ackley Flume to its own use.” This is in line with the contention of respondents that when the oil left the land of the operators it became abandoned property. However, in the Dougherty case the court proceeded to state that the owner need not continue to abandon the *310 “tailings,” but he may change his purpose and reclaim it himself if he chooses. But this must mean that he may reclaim it while it is under his control, that is, before it has passed beyond his possession. So in the case at bar, no doubt the operators could impound the oil on their own property and thereby prevent its diversion by a third party, .to the extent at least that it did not interfere with the riparian rights of others, but the case is different where they claim the right to recover it after it has escaped from their own possession and been appropriated by lower riparian owners.
We think there is no substantial merit in the appeal and the judgment is affirmed.
Ellison, P. J., pro t&m., and Hart J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- S. A. DUVALL Et Al., Appellants, v. C. N. WHITE Et Al., Respondents
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published