Martinez

In negligence parlance, this is a superseding cause case. Appellant, Alfonso Martinez, was employed by Clark Engineering and Construction Company (Clark), an independent contractor, to work in an oil field operated by Vintage Petroleum, Inc. (Vintage). Appellant was injured when a natural gas pipe burst. He sued Vintage on a negligence theory. Although a jury agreed that Vintage was a substantial factor in causing appellant’s harm, it also found that the negligence of appellant’s coworkers was a superseding cause that relieved Vintage of liability. Appellant contends there was no superseding cause as a matter of law, that the trial court gave an incorrect jury instruction on the issue and that its special verdict form compounded the error. We affirm.

Facts

Vintage operates an oil field near Sea Cliff beach. In 1995, oil pipelines in the field were damaged by landslides. Vintage hired Clark to reroute the oil line by connecting it to an abandoned natural gas line above the slide area. Tying the two lines together required that the natural gas pipeline be cut.

The natural gas pipeline was part of a “gas lift” system that used pressurized natural gas to recover oil from…