Branch v. Western Petroleum, Inc.

STEWART, Justice:

The Branches, the plaintiff property owners, sued for damages for the pollution of their culinary water wells caused by percolation of defendant Western Petroleum Inc.’s formation waters (waste waters from oil wells containing various chemical contaminants) into the subterranean water system that feeds the wells. A jury answered questions to special interrogatories, finding, inter alia, that the formation waters had contaminated plaintiffs’ two wells and awarded damages of $8,050 for pollution of the well water, $700 for trespass, $10,000 for “mental suffering, discomfort and…