Walmart Gas Container Lawsuit Filed Over Lack of Child-Safety Cap

A Texas couple is suing Wal-Mart and Blitz U.S.A. for a gas container explosion that caused their 2-year-old son to suffer severe burns across much of his body. The product liability lawsuit alleges that the Walmart gas can was defectively designed because it was sold without an effective child-proof cap.

The gas container lawsuit was filed on June 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by Leonel and Amber Zecaida, whose son, Roman Zecaida, was injured after he was able to remove the cap off the plastic can. The family argues that if the gas container had a child safety cap, the boy would not have been injured in a fire and explosion that occurred.

Claims for negligence, breach of warranty, misrepresentation and failure to warn have been presented, seeking compensation for third degree burns suffered by the 2-year-old over one-third of his body.

The injury occurred after the child’s father filled a lawnmower with gasoline and placed the gas container cap back onto the spout. A short time later, the toddler managed to pick the gas can up, remove the cap and carry it to a storage room. When the father saw the child near the container and a puddle of gasoline, he went to remove Roman from the storage room. However, as the child was being moved, the gasoline vapors ignited and the lower half of the child caught fire. As the father ran out of the room with his son, the gas container exploded, causing further injury.

According to the gas container lawsuit, the Blitz 1+ one gallon gas can only had a simple cap that required lining up arrows to remove and was ineffective as a child-resistant cap. The gas container also lacked a flame arrestor, which is a small metal mesh that could have prevented the flames from going back into the can.

The family purchased the gas container from Walmart in 2005, and included the retailer in the lawsuit, alleging that they affected the design of the gas can.

For years, gas containers were sold with minimal safety precautions built into the design. Because they were sold empty, manufacturers and retailers dodged laws in the Poison Prevention Packaging Act that required child safety caps on toxic and flammable substances.

In July 2008, the Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act required all gas containers sold after January 17, 2009 to have child resistant safety caps. But there are still hundreds of thousands of gas containers in homes which can be opened by 80% of children under the age of six. In addition, most of the containers contain inadequate warnings about the risks of gas can fires, as the warnings are embedded in the red plastic of the container and are difficult to read.