Parsons v. Amerada Hess Corp‪.‬

MURRAH, Chief Judge. This appeal from a summary judgment involves the tort liability of Amerada Petroleum Corporation to an employee of its independent contractor, B & M Service Company. And it also involves the contract liability of B & M to Amerada for losses incurred in the successful defense of the employee's wrongful death action. The primary appeal is from a judgment of nonliability of Amerada on the tort claim. The cross-appeal is from that part of the judgment in which the trial court refused, as unnecessary, to adjudge the liability of B & M to Amerada under their conventional indemnity contract. The ultimate question is whether, resolving all factual doubts against the summary judgment, a genuine issue of fact survived the pleadings, affidavits, documentary and depositional evidence. Fischer Construction Company v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 420 F.2d 271 (10th Cir.). The relevancy and conclusiveness of the record facts depend upon the nature of the legal duty imposed on Amerada to B & M's employee by applicable New Mexico law.