James Butler v. Petco Energy Corporation

IN THE DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR CREEK COUNTY STATE OF OKLAHOMA JAMES BUTLER, an individual, and ) LONGHORN ESTATES CATTLE CO., LLC, ) an Oklahoma Limited Liability Company, ) Case No.: ) Plaintiffs, ) ) ) v. ) ) PETCO ENERGY CORPORATION, an ) Illinois corporation, ) ) Defendant. ) PETITION COME NOW, the Plaintiffs, JAMES BUTLER, individually, and LONGHORN ESTATES CATTLE CO., LLC, an Oklahoma Limited Liability Company and for their causes of action against the Defendant, Petco Energy Corporation, a foreign for-profit corporation, allege and state as follows: I. Parties Jurisdiction and Venue 1. Plaintiffs, James Butler, individually, and as principal owner of Longhorn Estates Cattle Co., LLC a domestic Limited Liability Company, are domiciled in Creek County, Oklahoma. 2. The Defendant, Petco Energy Corporation, a foreign for-profit corporation, may be served through service of process on its registered agent: Corporation Service Company 10300 Greenbriar Place Oklahoma City, OK 73159 3. The property which is the subject of this lawsuit is located in Creek County Oklahoma, therefore Creek County is the proper venue for this lawsuit. II. Background Facts COME NOW Plaintiffs, reallege and restate each and every material allegation of paragraphs 1 through 3 and further allege and state as follows: 4. The Plaintiffs own approximately 230 acres of contiguous land located in Section 33 of Township Nineteen (19) North, Range Seven (7) East, Creek County, Oklahoma (the "Property"). 5. The Plaintiffs raise livestock on the Property, as well as using the Property for other personal, business and recreational purposes. 6. Upon information and belief, the Defendant is an oil and gas operator engaged in the business of producing oil and gas from land adjacent to the Plaintiffs' Property. 7. During the course of the Defendant's oil and gas operations, the Defendant, their agents and employees discharged and released oil, salt water, and/or other deleterious substances from wells, tanks, pipelines and/or other oilfield equipment. The discharges and releases of oil, saltwater and/or other deleterious substances from the Defendant's oil and gas operations have contaminated and polluted the soil, surface, subsurface and surface water of the Property. 8. The Defendants have failed to properly and adequately abate the pollution resulting from its oil and gas operations that have affected the Property. III. Private and Public Nuisance COME NOW Plaintiffs, reallege and restate each and every material allegation of paragraphs 1 through 8 and further allege and state as follows: 9. The Defendant created and maintained a nuisance upon the Property in the following particulars: a) In failing to properly operate and maintain its wells, tanks, pipelines and other oilfield equipment and in permitting the equipment to deteriorate to such an extent that leaks and discharges have occurred; b) In allowing oil, saltwater, and/or other deleterious substances from its oilfield operations to contaminate and pollute the soils, surface, subsurface and surface water of the Property; c) In allowing contamination and pollution of the Plaintiff's Property, including the soils, surface, subsurface and surface water thereof, to continue unabated and the failure of the Defendants to adequately remedy the situation; d) Other acts or omissions of the Defendant as may be established by evidence presented at trial. 10. The nuisance created and maintained by the Defendant unreasonably interfered with, and continues to unreasonably interfere with, the Plaintiffs’ use and enjoyment of the Property for personal, agricultural, farming and ranching purposes in the following particulars: a) The Plaintiffs have been deprived of the use and enjoyment of portions of the surface of the Property for personal, agricultural or recreational purposes; b) As a result of the contamination and pollution of the Property, the Plaintiffs’ ability to safely use the surface water at the Property for domestic purposes, for watering their cattle or for other beneficial purposes has been impaired; c) The value of Property has been diminished by the contamination and pollution resulting from the discharges and releases of oil, saltwater and/or other deleterious substances from the Defendant’s operations; d) The presence of the contamination and pollution has impaired or destroyed the Plaintiffs’ ability to use the Property for other productive uses; e) As a result of the Defendant’s acts and omissions, the Plaintiff has suffered personal annoyance and inconvenience; and f) Other injuries as may be established by evidence presented at trial. 11. Because the Defendant's acts and omissions resulted in the pollution of the waters and soils of the State of Oklahoma, such acts also constitute a public nuisance. 12. The acts and omissions of the Defendant heretofore described were committed in violation of applicable laws, statutes and administrative rules. 13. As a result of the Defendant's creation and maintenance of a private and public nuisance upon the Property, the Plaintiff's Property has sustained permanent and/or temporary damage, the Plaintiff have lost the use and enjoyment of portions of the Property, the value of the Property has been diminished, Plaintiffs have suffered personal annoyance and inconvenience, and the Plaintiff has sustained damages to their farming and livestock operations, all in an amount in excess of $75,000.00. 14. The Plaintiffs are entitled to abatement of the private and public nuisance, set forth above, and are entitled to damages for the reasonable cost of repairing and abating the injuries to the vegetation, soils, surface, subsurface and surface water of the Property, which costs the Plaintiffs allege to be in a sum in excess of $75,000.00. IV. Trespass COME NOW Plaintiffs, reallege and restate each and every material allegation of paragraphs 1 through 14 and further allege and state as follows: 15. As alleged above, the Defendant discharged and released oil, saltwater and/or other deleterious substances from the Defendant's oil and gas operations to the Property, and contaminated and polluted the soils, surface, subsurface and surface water of the Property. 16. Defendant has no permission, right or license to discharge and release saltwater, hydraulic fracturing fluid, oil or other deleterious substance to the Property, and the discharge and release of such pollutants constitute a trespass upon the Property. The Defendant's failure to adequately remove the oil, saltwater and/or other deleterious substances discharged from the Defendant’s oil and gas operations, despite the Defendant’s duty to do so, constitutes a continuing trespass on the Property and these substances continue to pollute and contaminate the soils, surface, subsurface, surface water and groundwater of the Property. 17. Defendant’s employees or agents also physically entered the Property without permission on more than one occasion. 18. As a result of the Defendant’s trespass upon the Property, the Property sustained temporary and/or permanent injuries, the value of the Property was diminished, the Plaintiffs were deprived of the use and enjoyment of portions of the Property, they sustained damages to their farming and livestock operations, and the Plaintiffs suffered personal annoyance, inconvenience, anguish and distress, all in an amount in excess of $75,000.00. V. Unjust Enrichment COME NOW Plaintiffs reallege and restate each and every material allegation of paragraphs 1 through 18 and further allege and state as follows: 19. The Defendant is under an obligation to follow rules and laws concerning the operation of its oil and gas leases and also which require the Defendant to prevent pollution. Based on information and belief, the Plaintiffs allege that the Defendant has refused and failed to spend the money necessary to fulfill its obligations and to prevent pollution, and thereby breached its duty to the Plaintiffs. 20. To the extent the Defendant has saved money by failing to fulfill its obligations under its oil and gas leases and to prevent pollution to the detriment of the Plaintiffs, the Defendant has been unjustly enriched. The Plaintiffs seek recovery for the amount by which the Defendant has been unjustly enriched, in an amount to be determined at trial. VI. Negligence COME NOW Plaintiffs reallege and restate each and every material allegation of paragraphs 1 through 20 and further allege and state as follows: 21. Defendant breached their duties, and such breach was the direct and proximate result of acts and omissions of negligence by Defendants, its agents, servants, and employees in the following manners: a) In failing to use reasonable and proper care to operate and maintain its wells, tanks, pipelines and other oilfield equipment and in permitting the equipment to deteriorate to such an extent that leaks and discharges have occurred; b) In failing to use reasonable and proper care to prevent contamination, injury, waste and destruction of Plaintiffs’ Property, Defendant allowed oil, saltwater, and/or other deleterious substances from its oilfield operations to contaminate and pollute the soils, surface, subsurface and surface water of the Property; c) In allowing contamination and pollution of the Plaintiffs’ Property, including the soils, surface, subsurface and surface water thereof, to continue unabated and the failure of the Defendant to adequately remedy the situation; d) In failing to abate the dangerous conditions and nuisances which it created, including but not limited to, contamination of the soil, surface waters and/or ground waters; electrical and/or steel conduit running across the surface of the property; as well as pipe and other debris left scattered across the property. e) In the negligent manner and form of the work undertaken and the continued negligent operations causing permanent damage to Plaintiffs’ property. f) Other acts or omissions of the Defendant as may be established by evidence presented at trial. 22. Upon information and belief, the Defendant’s negligence caused unlawful death and injury to Plaintiffs’ trees, as well as being directly responsible for the diminished capacity of the land to support vegetation, such that Plaintiffs are entitled to damages for loss of trees and vegetation as found in 23 O.S.§72. 23. As a result of Defendant’s negligence, Plaintiffs have sustained and continue to sustain severe permanent and/or temporary damage to their Property. These damages were caused solely by the negligence of Defendant, as herein alleged, and without any negligence on the part of Plaintiffs. And as a result of Defendant’s actions, the Plaintiffs have suffered harm in an amount in excess of $75,000.00. VII. Punitive Damages COME NOW Plaintiffs reallege and restate each and every material allegation of paragraphs 1 through 23 and further allege and state as follows: 24. The wrongful and unlawful acts of the Defendant, as alleged, were intentional and malicious, or were in reckless disregard of the rights of the Plaintiffs. The Plaintiffs are entitled to recover exemplary damages in an amount sufficient to punish and deter such conduct. VIII. Prayer for Relief WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs pray for judgment against the Defendant in an amount in excess of $75,000.00, as set out herein, for private and public nuisance; for the cost of abatement of the nuisance created and maintained by the Defendant; for permanent and/or temporary damage to the Plaintiffs’ Property; for diminution in the value of the Property; for the loss of use and enjoyment of the Property; for injuries to Plaintiffs’ livestock operations; for trespass; for the loss of possession of the Property; for personal annoyance, inconvenience, mental anguish and distress; for disgorgement of the amount by which the Defendant has been unjustly enriched; for punitive damages; for attorney fees, interest and costs of this action; and for any other relief to which the Plaintiffs may be entitled. Respectfully submitted, K. Todd Goolsby, OBA 12676 Perry E. Kaufman, OBA 12732 Amber D. Nelson, OBA 33575 GOOLSBY, PROCTOR, NELSON & LEE 701 N. Broadway Avenue, Suite 400 Oklahoma City, OK 73102-6006 (405) 524-2400; (405) 525-6004 (F) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs, James Butler and Longhorn Estates Cattle Co., LLC JURY TRIAL DEMANDED ATTORNEYS LIEN CLAIMED