Pioneer Natural Gas Co. v. K & M PAVING CO.

GREENHILL, Justice.

This is a suit by K & M Paving Company against Pioneer Natural Gas Company for the loss of an earth moving machine by explosion and fire as a result of the machine’s cutting one of the Pioneer Natural Gas Company’s buried pipelines on the outskirts of Lubbock, Texas. In the district court, the jury verdict and judgment was for the plaintiff in the amount of $12,500. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. Tex.Civ.App., 359 S.W.2d 533.

Article 1436b, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes Annotated, authorizes gas transmission companies to lay and maintain lines under public roads and…