Burnette v. Morgan

Otis H. Turner, Justice.

This appeal is from a jury verdict awarding $ 109,256.60 in damages to the appellee, the holder of a leasehold interest. The damages resulted from the drifting of sodium chlorate, a chemical applied aerially to a wheat crop, onto adjacent apple orchards and a peach orchard leased by the appellee.

At the time of the occurrence, in May, 1985, the appellee had about nineteen months remaining on a five-year lease of a fifty-acre apple orchard, which was some two years old. Additionally, he had leased a mature five-acre apple orchard that was about ten years old and a…