Court Invalidates AWCA's Extension of Immunity for Oil and Gas Well Owner/Operators

The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act extending civil immunity to the owners and operators of oil and gas wells as an unconstitutional special law. Case: Strickland v. Stephens Production Co., No. 2018 OK 6, 01/23/2018, published. Facts: David Chambers worked for RDT Trucking. In October 2014, RDT sent him to an oil well in Crescent to pick up a load of waste water. The well was owned an operated by the Stephens Production Co. While Chambers was at the well, something went wrong with a device known as a “heater treate...