Decision Due in Case of Oil Field Accident

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane will decide today whether an Oklahoma-based petroleum company was responsible for the death of three men killed in an oil field accident north of Ventura four years ago.

The workers died Aug. 10, 1994, after inhaling toxic fumes from a gas leak at Vintage Petroleum’s oil production plant in the foothills of Rincon Mountain at Seacliff. The men were redrilling a 70-year-old oil well when water gushed from the ground, releasing a deadly concentration of noxious gases.

Ronald Johnson, Jason Hoskins and Sean Harris were overcome by the fumes and suffered cardiac arrest almost immediately. Four other men were injured, three of whom have joined in a negligence lawsuit against Vintage.

They claim that a pocket of toxic gases was released when the men bored deep into the well, which has since been abandoned. They argue that the oil production company, which leased the land, should have foreseen the danger.

But Vintage defense attorney Bruce Finck has argued that the explosion was caused by faulty safety equipment provided by a subcontractor. In closing arguments Tuesday, he also leveled part of the blame on the workers themselves for allegedly failing to take proper safety measures.

After listening to five months of testimony and five days of closing arguments, Lane told attorneys in court Tuesday that she will issue a ruling in the liability phase of the trial this morning.

If Vintage Petroleum is held entirely or partly responsible for the deaths and injuries, the trial will advance to a damage phase in which monetary awards will be determined. Victims and their families are seeking more than $10 million in damages.