Facts & Allegations On Jan. 11, 2008, while refueling a logging loader in Rusk, plaintiff Alvaro Chavez, 52, a truck driver, used his cigarette lighter to check the fuel gauge and was engulfed in a flash fire. His employer’s fuel contractor was Gardner Oil Inc. of Cherokee County
Chavez sued Gardner Oil for negligence and breach of express and implied warranties for delivering gasoline-contaminated fuel instead of pure diesel fuel. Handling pure diesel is very different than handling gasoline. Diesel cannot cause a flash fire and will put out a match (as was demonstrated to the jury), whereas gasoline is very volatile and will flash fire very easily.