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A gas station in Bearspaw, Alberta allegedly provided customers with contaminated fuel, leading numerous automobiles to malfunction and a complicated commercial liability case.
Motorists who refueled at the Centex Bearspaw gas station sometime last July saw their automobiles malfunction and, in some cases, even completely stop working. An investigation after the incident found that the inner lining of the gas station’s fuel tank split, which allowed saline fluid (used as a lining between the inner and outer layers of the tank) to mix with the fuel.
Drivers affected by the saline-contaminated fuel had to pay for costly repairs to their vehicles, from $3,000 to as much as $18,000. Fortunately for some motorists, their auto insurance covered the expenses.
However, an issue has brewed between the insurers of the Centex gas station, the contractor who installed the tank, and the tank’s manufacturer ZCL Composites. CBC News reported that the insurers of the parties involved cannot seem to agree over which is most liable for the saline tank leak.
“So between the three of them at the moment, they haven’t figured out who is liable,” James Niblock, one of the motorists whose cars got ruined by the bad gas, told CBC News.
Niblock argued that as the gas station and its vendors continue to point fingers, affected customers such as him have had to deal with the resulting repairs.
“While this kind of drags on and no-one’s really communicating with us, obviously a lot of people have got either unusable engines or have basically had to pay out of their own pocket for repairs,” he said.
On December 05, 2018, Niblock received an email from an independent adjuster handling the files for Federated Insurance – Centex Petroleum’s insurer. In the email, the adjuster said that the insurer was “not issuing any payment” until fault was determined.
The station in question was closed following the bad gas incidents; ZCL Composites was asked to investigate, and the tank manufacturer discovered the leak. The damage has since been repaired and the station was reopened.
“Centex has assured all customers that were affected by this event that we will reimburse them for their costs,” the fuel company said in a letter sent out to customers following the reopening of the station.
