Facts

Herbert Delaney Jr., 49, was working for Pool Well Services Company. Pool is in the business of performing maintenance services on oil wells. Pool was hired by Matrix Oil Corporation to attempt to increase the production of a well owned by Matrix in Whittier.

On May 19, 2005, Pool had a crew of five employees working at the Whittier oil well. Delaney was the crew chief. During their work on the well, Pool employees used a rig (crane) to attempt to pull the tubing from the well, which was approximately 9,000 feet deep. The tubing became stuck. At the time of the accident, the Pool employees were setting up the equipment needed to circulate KCL liquid (water with potassium chloride) down the well in order to attempt to free the stuck tubing. While setting up the equipment to circulate the KCL liquid, the well head was left open. Flammable gas and/or vapor was unexpectedly released from the open well head and ignited by the engine on the rig, which was located in close proximity to the well. An explosion and subsequent fire occurred. Delaney sustained burns to over 75 percent of his body surface and died three weeks after the accident.

The plaintiffs are the decedent's wife and three children, ages 14, 16 and 17.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiffs contended that Briones Oilfield Services was hired by Matrix as the operator of the Whittier well and that Briones was under a duty to insure that the well was operated according to the terms and conditions of the permits with the City of Whittier. The plaintiffs also contended that the decision to attempt to circulate the well with KCL liquid was a joint decision between Matrix, Briones and Pool and that Briones knew the well head would need to be open during the circulation process, which may allow oil and natural gas to be vented to the atmosphere in violation of the permits with the City of Whittier.

The plaintiffs further claimed that Briones was negligent by not requiring a dedicated fire-watch to test for flammable vapors at the time of the accident. The plaintiffs claimed that Matrix was vicariously responsible for the negligence of Briones since operation of the well according to the terms and conditions of the permits with the City of Whittier involved a non-delegable duty.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
The defendants claimed that the sole cause of the accident was the negligence of the decedent and his employer. The defendants also claimed that it was Pool's decision as the experts in oil well maintenance to attempt to circulate the KCL liquid with the well head open, that Pool's own written safety policies specifically prohibited wells from being circulated with the well head open, that Pool's job supervisor who was on-site at the time of the accident was terminated after the accident for violation of Pool's safety policies, that there was no reason to have the well head open while "setting up" the equipment to be used to circulate the well, and that it was the responsibility of Pool to employ a dedicated fire-watch to test for flammable vapors at the time of the incident.

The defendants contended that even if the well were circulated with the well head open, Pool employees were negligent for failure to close in the well head when gas started to escape from the well which could have easily been done within a few seconds by using the blow out preventer.

Settlement Discussions

There were no settlement discussions prior to mediation.

Result

The case settled for $3,075,000 before Jeffrey Krivis of First Mediation (Briones paid $2 million; Matrix paid $1,075,000).

Other Information

The lien by the intervenor was $1.2 million, which was resolved for $75,000 due to the comparative negligence of the employer.