Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. v. Hancock

Rehearing Denied: June 22, 1954 Application for Leave to File Second Petition for Rehearing Denied: July 28, 1954 1 According to testimony the plaintiffs, husband and wife, were riding in an automobile driven by the husband. They were traveling on a certain dirt surfaced street in a certain numbered block in the City of Enid when the automobile struck a depression and with effect to inflict personal injuries to the wife and cause loss and damage to both plaintiffs. The street was covered with snow except for the ruts in which the automobile proceeded. The driver did not see the depression until after the accident, and he then observed a slight depression along a narrow line leading across the street and to a gas meter, the property of the defendant. The accident occurred on February 12th. On October 10th preceding, the defendant company had excavated a ditch across the said certain street in the certain numbered block and had laid a gas pipe therein and had filled the ditch with dry dirt to the level of the street surface. Thereafter it rained in the vicinity on the 1st day of November, and on the last day of November. There was a slight trace of rain in December. In the meantime, the city had dragged or graded the street across the line of the covered ditch. Throughout January there were intermittent heavy rainfalls and snowfall. From January 10th to February 12th there was snow on the ground in the area and in such period in a greater part of the time the temperature was sub-freezing. 2 The proofs justify the conclusion that defendant filled the ditch in such manner that with the coming of the winter rains and snow and alternate freezing and thaws there was created a subsidence or depression in the street that was the cause of the plaintiffs' injuries and loss.