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20 Tex. L. Rev. 399 (1941-1942)
Nuisance Without Fault

handle is hein.journals/tlr20 and id is 423 raw text is: TEXAS LAW REVIEW VoL. XX APRIL, 1942 No 4 NUISANCE WITHOUT FAULT By WILLIAM L. PROSSER* One of the most interesting and important decisions of the Supreme Court of Texas in recent years is found in the case of Turner v. Big Lake Oil Co. The facts of the case, which no doubt are familiar to Texas readers, will bear repetition as a basis of some discussion of the significance and import of the opinion of Chief Justice Cureton and of the broader topic of liability without fault under the law of Texas. The defendants, who operated oil wells in Reagan County, were plagned with salt water. They constructed large artificial earthen ponds, into which they ran the polluted water from the wells. On one occasion the salt water escaped from one or more of these ponds, passed over the adjoining turf of the plaintiffs, and entered Garrison draw, a dry valley on private land which the plaintiffs owned. Some six miles down the draw there were natural water holes at which the plaintiffs watered their stock. These became so fouled with the salt water that the cattle and sheep were injured. The plaintiffs brought an action for the damage to the turf, the water holes and the stock, basing it upon alleged neglect of the defendants in permitting the ponds to overflow. The jury, in answer to special issues, found that the defendants did permit the ponds to overflow but that they were not in any respect negligent in doing so. Upon these findings, judg- ment was rendered for the defendants. Upon appeal, the Court of Civil Appeals at El Paso disposed of the case2 by holding that Garrison *A.B., Harvard University, LL.B., University of Minnesota; author of THE LAw op TonTs (1941); Professor of Law, University of Minnesota. 1128 Tex. 155, 96 S.W.(2d) 221 (1936). lTurner v. Big Lake Oil Co., 62 S.W.(2d) 491 (Tex.Civ.App. 1933).

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