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A South Carolina woman has filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against Myers Industries and several Scepter-related companies, alleging that a plastic gasoline container sold without a flame-mitigation device exploded in her relative’s hand during a backyard burn-barrel fire, causing fatal burns.
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The suit, filed Wednesday at the U.S. District Court in Columbia, was brought by Stephanie Craft, the personal representative of the estate of Jack Dale Still, a Lexington County resident, according to the complaint. It names Myers Industries, Inc., Scepter US Holding Company, Scepter Manufacturing, LLC, and Scepter Canada, Inc. as defendants.
On Jan. 22, 2025, Still was trying to ignite debris in a burn barrel at a home on Tinsley Drive in South Congaree, S.C., using a red plastic Scepter portable fuel container that lacked a flame arrester or other “flame mitigation device” — a safety feature intended to prevent flames from traveling back into a fuel container — according to the complaint. The spout had been removed and was on the ground nearby, the filing says.
As Still poured gasoline, a vapor trail ignited and “created a flashback explosion,” the lawsuit alleges, detonating the container, spraying him with fuel and engulfing him in flames. Still suffered burns over 80 to 89 percent of his body and died two days later in a burn unit in Augusta, Ga., the complaint says.
The lawsuit argues that the risk of flashback explosions in plastic gas cans has been known for decades and cites federal action to address the hazard, including a Consumer Product Safety Commission rule that requires portable fuel containers manufactured or imported after July 12, 2023, to meet certain flame mitigation standards.
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The complaint contends that safer alternative designs were feasible and that warnings on the container were inadequate.
The suit brings claims including strict product liability (design defect and failure to warn), negligence, breach of warranty, wrongful death and a survival claim, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial. A jury trial is requested.
Lawyers for the plaintiff are Daniel S. Haltiwanger, S. Kirkpatrick Morgan Jr. and Charles T. Slaughter of Morgan, Slaughter & Haltiwanger, LLC, the filing shows.
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