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SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal jury awarded a Magna man a $6 million settlement in the burning death of his young daughter. The jury decided a faulty gas can was mostly to blame for the explosion and fire that killed the 2-year-old.
"It's been really tough," says Dave Calder who was also severely burned on 30 percent of his body in the 2005 accident.
Calder quickly admits he's partly to blame for the mobile home fire at a remote family ranch in Uintah County that his family used to visit on vacations. He poured gasoline on wet wood to get a fire going in the stove. But the jury agreed with him that a safer gas can probably would have prevented the fatal explosion.
Gasoline can used to start fire ignites mobile home
December 28, 2005 he was at the ranch with his daughter and two sons, who were 6 and 9 at the time. Calder says he ran out of paper to light wet wood. He says he had cautiously used gasoline in the past to light the stove with no problems.
"I poured just a teeny bit on there," he says. "It went right into the can and it exploded. It blew up."
He quickly patted the flames off of his daughter, who sat nearby.
"I was engulfed in flames myself, and it was very painful," he says.
He raced outside, where his eldest son was shouting at him to stop, drop and roll. He did, and had to rip off his burning clothes to stop the burning.
"By the time I got back to the trailer, it was engulfed in flames," he says.
His daughter, Halie, was unable to get out. One of his sons suffered burns, the other was not hurt. Calder spent two months in the burn unit at the University of Utah Hospital. He required skin grafts on most of both legs.
Jury agrees five-cent part might have prevented disaster
When the 10-day trial wrapped up in Salt Lake Thursday, the jury blamed Blitz USA for 70 percent of the accident and Calder for 30 percent. It ordered the Oklahoma corporation to pay $6,167,943 for economic and emotional damages, but not punitive damages
Calder's lawyers argued a flame arrester, a five-cent piece, would have prevented the flame from entering the can. A flame arrester is essentially a thin screen that fits on the opening of the gas can to prevent flames from getting down into the gasoline. That piece is found on other brands of gas cans but not Blitz cans.
Calder tried to settle with Blitz for $80,000. The company refused. So, a 12-person jury decided that not using a flame arrester was a multi-million dollar mistake by the gas can company.
"The jury found that a five-cent part could have saved this whole thing: my daughter's life and saved me from injuries," says Calder.
Calder says he learned an important lesson: never put gasoline on a fire, even if you think it's a controlled situation.
Calder's local co-counsel, Don Winder, says Blitz acknowledged that its own research shows that 20 percent of its customers use the cans to pour gasoline as a fire accelerant.
Key points come out at trial
Winder cites several other key points that came out in the trial. According to testimony, gas cans are more likely to explode when there is less gas in the can, the gas is old, and cold. He believes this case produced those key elements for future public safety.
Calder's other attorney is handling more than a dozen similar cases across the country. This is the first one with a jury ruling, and he hopes it will lead to a safer product and prevent future fatalities.
Calder isn't likely to get his pay-out anytime soon, it could take two years. But, when he gets the money?
"It won't replace my daughter," he says, "but, it will send a lot of kids to burn camp."
After he pays his lawyers, Calder's millions will help send kids to a local burn camp.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
