Source of Deadly Gas at Heart of Lawsuit

Three men who died in an oil field accident at Seacliff four years ago were killed by a mix of toxic fumes that spewed up from thousands of feet below the surface, attorneys argued in court Wednesday.

They did not die of carbon monoxide poisoning, they said.

At issue in the civil case being heard by Ventura Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane is whether Oklahoma-based Vintage Petroleum is liable for the deaths of Ronald Johnson, Sean Harris and Jason Hoskins, as well as injuries to three other men.

If attorneys for the victims’ families can show that the men died from inhaling a mixture of toxic gases, they can argue that Vintage is to blame because the company that leased the Rincon oil field did not foresee the danger and should have.

If, however, the men died from carbon monoxide poisoning, as defense attorney Bruce Finck is expected to argue, the poisonous gas may have been caused by pressure released when the men detonated explosives into the walls of the defunct oil well.

Under that scenario, two Vintage subcontractors--Pride Petroleum Service Co. and Schulumberger Wireline and Testing--could be held liable for their deaths.

The gas leak occurred at Vintage Petroleum’s oil production plant in the foothills of Rincon Mountain in Seacliff. The men were in the process of turning the 70-year-old, now defunct well into a solid waste disposal well.

As they drilled into the walls more than 2,000 feet down, a burst of gas caused water in the drainage pipe to reverse and shoot back up, carrying with it noxious fumes.

The three men were overcome by the gases and suffered cardiac arrest almost immediately.

“It was driven by gas,” said plaintiff’s attorney Richard M. Norman.

But it is the source of that gas that is the heart of the issue.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys have spent two days on closing arguments in the five-month trial. Finck will begin tomorrow.

If Vintage is found liable in this phase of the trial, a damage phase will begin next week, during which victims and their families will testify. The victims and their families are seeking more than $10 million in damages, attorneys said.