Sentry Royalty Co. v. Kimmel

CULLEN, Commissioner.

In the process of strip-mining the No. 11 coal from a tract of land owned by Dorothy Faye Kimmel, under a mineral lease which expressly authorized strip-mining, Sentry Royalty Company deposited the overburden from the first “cut” in a spoil bank on a slope around 75 feet above a partially uncompleted dwelling house owned by Mrs. Kimmel. Some two years later, during a rainy season, the spoil bank slid down the slope, destroying the house and a water well. Mrs. Kimmel and her husband brought action against Sentry Royalty Company for damages, alleging negligence. Under…