Gomez v. Harbor Freight Tools USA, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 April 2019
• Docket Number: CASE NO. 3:17-CV-41 (CDL)
• Citation: 383 F.Supp.3d 1376
• Parties: Robert V. GOMEZ, II, Kaitlyn Ann Wille, and Jennifer Price, Plaintiffs, v. HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS USA, INC., Central Purchasing, LLC, and HFT Holdings, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia

383 F.Supp.3d 1376

Robert V. GOMEZ, II, Kaitlyn Ann Wille, and Jennifer Price, Plaintiffs,

v.HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS USA, INC., Central Purchasing, LLC, and HFT Holdings, Inc., Defendants.

CASE NO. 3:17-CV-41 (CDL)

United States District Court, M.D. Georgia, Athens Division.

Signed April 18, 2019

John P. Kristensen, Los Angeles, CA, Darren W. Penn, Jonah A. Flynn, Atlanta, GA, Laura K. Penn, Macon, GA, for Plaintiffs.

Eileen Meghan Ahern, Pro Hac Vice, Los Angeles, CA, Warner S. Fox, Carl H. Anderson, Jr., Michael J. Goldman, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants.

ORDER

CLAY D. LAND, CHIEF U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

Robert V. Gomez, II, Kaitlyn Ann Wille, and Jennifer Price ("Plaintiffs") assert that they were injured when Gomez poured a mixture of diesel and gasoline from a Blitz portable gasoline can onto a mostly extinguished fire and the gas can exploded. Plaintiffs contend that the gas can was defective because it did not have a flame arrestor and did not contain adequate warnings. The gas can was manufactured by Blitz U.S.A., which declared bankruptcy in 2011. Plaintiffs brought this action against Defendants Harbor Freight Tools USA, Inc., Central Purchasing, LLC, and HFT Holdings, Inc. (collectively, "Harbor Freight") because they assert that the gas can was purchased from a Harbor Freight store. The Court previously concluded that a genuine fact dispute exists on whether the gas can was purchased from Harbor Freight. See Order (July 16, 2018), ECF No. 52. Harbor Freight filed a second summary judgment motion, asserting that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on all of Plaintiffs' remaining claims. As discussed below, Harbor Freight's summary judgment motion (ECF No. 76) is granted as to Plaintiffs' negligent failure to warn and implied warranty of merchantability claims but denied as to Plaintiffs' negligent sale claim.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment may be granted only "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). In determining whether a genuine dispute of material fact exists to defeat a motion for summary judgment, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment, drawing all justifiable inferences in the opposing party's favor. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A fact is material if it is relevant or necessary to the outcome of the suit. Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. A factual dispute is genuine if the evidence would allow a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Id.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, the record reveals the following facts.

In September 2012, Ronda Baldree bought a five-gallon Blitz brand plastic gas can from the Harbor Freight store in Valdosta, Georgia.¹ Baldree Dep. 78:24-79:10, ECF No. 100. Baldree used the gas can for storing gasoline and fueling her lawn mower. Id. at 96:4-24; 101:14-23 (stating that Baldree's son Tommy Lee and her daughter Raven Bennett fueled Baldree's lawnmower using the gas can, which Baldree kept in her garage).

Baldree lives next door to one of her sons, Plaintiff Bobby Gomez. On March 6, 2015, Gomez asked Baldree if he could use her gas can. Id. at 58:1-5, 21-23. Baldree said yes, so Gomez went to her garage and borrowed the gas can Baldree had bought from Harbor Freight. Id. at 58:3-5; 75:22-76:4. The gas can contained a "small amount ... of gasoline, maybe a cup or less." Gomez Dep. 24:9-11, ECF No. 79-1. Gomez took the gas can to a filling station and put about a gallon of diesel in it. Id. at 24:14-19. He did not dump out the gas first. Gomez "thought that the diesel would have just completely diluted the gas, and it was -- it would have been like the gas wasn't even in existence ... [b]ecause it was such a great amount of diesel compared to the gas." Id. at 75:10-16.

That evening, Gomez had an informal gathering in his backyard with some of his friends, including Wille and Price. Gomez had a portable firepit, and he tried to start a fire by balling up some paper, putting it between the logs, and lighting it. Id. at 35:1-2. But the wood was wet, and Gomez "realized that it wasn't going to catch." Id. at 35:3-4. He "kind of waited a little while for it to go out and grabbed the [gas] can, released the nozzle, walked over to the fire pit, and just kind of drizzled some diesel around the outer edge of the firewood." Id. at 35:4-7. He balled up some more paper and lit it. It "slowly caught the diesel," then "burned for a few minutes and went out." Id. at 36:8-11. Gomez did not see any flames or embers, but "there may have been very small pieces of paper burning or smoldering." Id. at 64:4-10. Gomez went to drizzle more fuel around the fire pit. As soon as he tipped the gas can, "there was an extremely loud hissing," and the gas can exploded. Id. at 37:1-4.

Gomez knew that it would be dangerous to use gasoline on a fire because "[g]as is extremely flammable." Id. at 40:9-17. Gomez was aware that there are warnings on the sides of gas cans, and he read and understood such warnings before March 6, 2015. Id. at 22:1-10. But Gomez testified that he did not know it would be dangerous to use diesel on a fire. When Gomez worked on his family's property as a teenager, he would help push together a pile of trash "and kind of douse it down with diesel and light it.... Never once did anything violent happen, no explosions." Id. at 22:18-23:1. He had also previously poured diesel on a small flame, and the diesel put out the flame. Id. at 23:2-13. Gomez assumed that because there was mostly diesel in the gas can on March 6, 2015, he would not get injured by pouring it into the fire pit. He did not account for the fact that there was some gasoline in the gas can, and he was "under the impression that with that much diesel on top of [the gasoline], that it would have killed the dangerous properties of the gasoline." Id. at 42:4-6; 52:17-19.

The gas can had a number of warnings embossed onto the side. In relevant part, it stated:

DANGER

GASOLINE

EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE

VAPORS CAN EXPLODE

* * *

NEVER USE GAS TO START A FIRE

* * *

KEEP AWAY FROM HEAT SOURCES

VAPORS CAN BE IGNITED BY A SPARK OR FLAME SOURCE MANY FEET AWAY * KEEP AWAY FROM FLAME ... AND OTHER SOURCES OF IGNITION

Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. B, Gas Can Warnings, ECF No. 76-4.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs brought claims for negligent sale, negligent failure to warn, and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability. Plaintiffs also assert that they are entitled to punitive damages. Harbor Freight seeks summary judgment on all of Plaintiffs' claims.

I. Plaintiffs' Negligent Sale Claim

"In Georgia, the essential elements of a cause of action for negligence are: (1) a legal duty; (2) a breach of this duty; (3) an injury; and (4) a causal connection between the breach and the injury." Vaughan v. Glymph , 241 Ga.App. 346, 526 S.E.2d 357, 359 (1999) (citing Tuggle v. Helms , 231 Ga.App. 899, 499 S.E.2d 365, 367 (1998) ). Harbor Freight does not dispute that in Georgia a product seller may be liable under a negligence theory if it sold a product even though it had actual or constructive knowledge that the product was unreasonably dangerous at the time of the sale. See King Hardware Co. v. Ennis , 39 Ga.App. 355, 147 S.E. 119, 121 (1929) (noting that if a seller "purchases and sells an article in common and general use, in the usual course of trade, without knowledge of its dangerous quality, and with nothing tending reasonably to call his attention thereto, he is not negligent in failing to exercise care to determine whether it is dangerous or not"); cf. Hester v. Human , 211 Ga.App. 351, 439 S.E.2d 50, 53 (1993) (finding that the retailer of a dirt boring machine could not be liable under a negligence theory because it "was aware of no defects in the equipment, and had never heard of anyone being injured in the manner in which plaintiff's injury occurred"); Ream Tool Co. v. Newton , 209 Ga.App. 226, 433 S.E.2d 67, 70 (1993) (finding that the seller of a wood cutter did not negligently sell a defective wood cutter because it had no knowledge of the cutter's "dangerous quality" and nothing tending to call its attention to any dangers with the cutter).

In this case, Plaintiffs claim that the Blitz gas can was unreasonably dangerous because it lacked a flame arrestor. Plaintiffs further claim that Harbor Freight was negligent in selling Baldree the gas can despite knowing or having reason to know of its dangers. Harbor Freight argues that the present record establishes as a matter of law that it did not have actual or constructive knowledge of the dangers of the Blitz gas can. It does not.

Harbor Freight points out that the Blitz cans met industry standards. This fact is relevant to whether Harbor Freight was negligent, but it is not dispositive on this issue. Harbor Freight's main argument, though, is that it did not learn of a defect in Blitz gas cans or of any incidents associated with Blitz gas cans until December 2013, when Harbor Freight received an email from a salesman suggesting that Harbor Freight offer its customers safety gas cans in light of litigation against Wal-Mart regarding Blitz plastic gas cans. Plaintiffs argue that there is a genuine fact dispute on whether Harbor Freight knew by February 2012—well before Baldree purchased the gas can in September 2012—that there were significant problems with Blitz gas cans. It is undisputed that Harbor Freight managers knew by February 2012 that Blitz had declared bankruptcy. Pls.' Resp. to Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. Attach. 3, Email from J. Klein-Hageman to D. Hart, et al. (Feb. 16, 2012), ECF No. 110-3. Harbor Freight managers also knew by February 2012 that one of its gas can vendors, Midwest Can Company, had increased prices for its gas cans; the managers speculated that it was because of the Blitz bankruptcy but...