Opinion ID: 4511044
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Well-Site Accident

Text: RW Trucking pumps fracking water from frac tanks at oil-well sites and hauls it away for disposal. Metz worked as a driver for RW Trucking. 1 On March 23, 2014, Metz was at a New Mexico well site pumping fracking water from a frac tank into his truck’s trailer (an enclosed tank). In preparing to do so, Metz backed his trailer to the frac tank, got out of his truck, and hooked a hose from the trailer to the frac tank. To empty the frac tank, he used a pump attached to his work truck, 2 powered by the truck’s engine. When the trailer reached capacity, Metz turned off the pump and disengaged the hose. According to Metz, he then left a ticket in the truck of another well-site worker, Garza. Metz testified that as he began walking back to his truck’s cab from its passenger side, and about sixty feet from the frac tanks, he flicked his lighter to light a cigarette. This ignited fumes and caused the flash fire that injured Garza (as well as Metz and another nearby RW Trucking employee). Garza described the incident slightly differently. Garza testified that Metz was “[l]oading up his water truck” when Metz flicked his lighter. App. at 730 (Deposition of David Garza at 80:8). Garza said that, when the fire occurred, he was within arms’ 1 Carolina contends that Metz may have been a truck driver for KT Investments, Inc., a company that provided RW Trucking with trucks and drivers that operated under RW Trucking’s authority. But neither Carolina nor Burlington contests that Metz is an insured. 2 Burlington disputes that the pump was attached to the truck. But Metz testified that the pump was attached to the truck, not the trailer, and we see nothing in the record that says otherwise. 3 length of Metz discussing with him and another truck driver which tanks needed emptying that day.