Francis H. Holland v. Yellowstone Pipe Line Company, a Corporation

Yellowstone Pipe Line Company, the appellee herein, filed an action for damages in the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Billings Division, alleging that appellee’s gasoline pipeline was struck and punctured by earth-moving equipment operated by Francis H. Holland, appellant herein, while Holland was engaged in highway construction on a state highway project north of Belgrade, Montana. In its first cause of action Yellowstone alleged that the damage to the pipe and the consequent loss of gasoline were proximately caused by the negligence of Holland. In Yellowstone’s second cause of action it was alleged that Yellowstone was the owner and in possession of certain easements, that the pipeline was installed pursuant to said easements, and that Holland without Yellowstone’s consent trespassed and entered upon the confines of Yellowstone’s easement.

Holland’s answer admitted that he had made a contract for the construction of the highway and that certain equipment operated by him struck and punctured appellee’s pipeline at the point where it intersected and crossed the highway. However, Holland denied that he was negligent or that he trespassed upon…