You did everything the way you always do. Opened the lid, turned the knob, hit the igniter. What came back was not a flame but a concussion of heat, and now you are looking at skin grafts and a summer spent in a burn unit. The instinct almost everyone has in that moment is to go back over it looking for the thing they did wrong. Under Texas law, that is the wrong question, and it is worth understanding why before an insurance adjuster asks it.
Grills Send More People to the Hospital Than Most Realize
The National Fire Protection Association, looking at the years 2017 through 2021, found an average of 22,155 people a year going to emergency rooms for grill related injuries, with nearly half of those being thermal burns. Over the same period, fire departments responded to an average of 11,421 home fires a year involving grills.Children under five account for roughly 2,820 contact burns a year on their own, usually from touching a surface nobody thought to guard. Gas grills, which are in the majority of American households, account for more of these fires than charcoal.
Strict Liability Is Not the Same as Negligence
Most injury claims are negligence claims, where you have to prove somebody failed to act reasonably. Product claims in Texas work differently. Under Chapter 82 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the question is not whether anyone was careless. It is whether the product was defective.
- The product was defective
- The defect existed when it left the defendant's control
- The defect caused your injury
That is the whole framework. A manufacturer with an immaculate safety record and the best intentions in the industry is still answerable for a defective product. This is the single most misunderstood thing about these cases, and it is why people talk themselves out of claims they would win.
Three Ways a Grill Can Be Defective
Texas recognizes three categories, and they are not interchangeable. Which one applies changes what has to be proven:
- Design defect, where the product is unsafe as designed even when built correctly. Texas requires proof that a safer alternative design existed and was economically and technologically feasible
- Manufacturing defect, where the design was sound but this particular unit came off the line wrong
- Marketing defect, usually a failure to warn, where the danger was foreseeable and the instructions or warnings did not address it adequately
A regulator that fails under normal use is a different case from a batch of hoses that were assembled badly, and both are different from a manual that never told you to leak test the connection.
Texas Protects the Store That Sold It to You
Here is where a lot of general advice about product claims goes wrong when applied to Texas. You will often read that manufacturers, distributors, and retailers can all be held liable. In Texas, that is not accurate.Section 82.003 says a seller that did not manufacture the product is not liable unless the injured person proves one of seven narrow exceptions. Suing the big box store where you bought the grill is generally not the straightforward path people assume it is.
The Exceptions That Actually Come Up
The seven exceptions are specific, and a few of them do real work in grill cases:
- The seller participated in designing the product
- The seller altered or modified it, and that caused the harm
- The seller assembled or installed it, and that caused the harm
- The seller controlled the content of a warning that turned out to be inadequate
- The seller made an express factual claim about the product that was wrong and that you relied on
- The seller actually knew about the defect when it sold the product
- The manufacturer is insolvent or not subject to the jurisdiction of the court
That last one is the one to remember. A great many grills sold in Texas are built overseas by companies that cannot practically be hauled into a Texas courtroom. When that is the situation, the retailer's protection falls away and the seller can be held responsible after all. Store assembly is worth asking about too, since a grill put together in the back of a store is a different legal situation from one you built yourself.
There Are Two Deadlines, and the Second One Surprises People
The familiar one is two years from the date of injury under Section 16.003. Most people have heard some version of that rule.The one nobody mentions is Section 16.012, a statute of repose that bars most product liability claims brought more than 15 years after the product was sold, regardless of when the injury occurred. Think about what that means for a grill. Families keep them for ten, twelve, fifteen years. A grill that fails catastrophically in year sixteen can leave you with a real defect and no claim at all. Limited exceptions exist, including certain warranty situations and latent disease cases, but the general rule is hard and it is worth knowing your purchase date early.
What Actually Fails on a Propane Grill
These incidents are rarely mysterious once someone inspects the hardware. The recurring culprits are a short list:
- Regulators that fail to control pressure properly
- Hoses that crack, perish, or were never rated for the application
- Valves and fittings that leak at the connection
- Tank overfill protection devices that do not do their job
- Ignition systems that allow gas to pool under a closed lid before lighting
- Fireboxes and burners that corrode through and let flame escape
Gas accumulating under a closed lid is the mechanism behind a large share of the worst injuries. The flame front has nowhere to go, and everything happens faster than a person can move.
Whatever You Do, Do Not Get Rid of the Grill
This is the practical instruction that matters most, and it is the one people get wrong within the first week because a damaged grill on the patio is a painful thing to look at.
- Keep the grill exactly as it is, with no repairs and no cleaning
- Keep the propane tank, the hose, and the regulator, which are frequently the actual culprits
- Do not let a fire department, landlord, insurer, or relative dispose of any of it
- Photograph everything from multiple angles, including model and serial plates
- Find the receipt, the manual, and the packaging if they still exist
- Write down where and when you bought it and who assembled it
An engineer can usually tell you what failed if they have the hardware. Without it, you are asking a jury to take your word about a product nobody can examine.
Do I Have to Prove Someone Was Careless to Win a Defective Grill Case in Texas?
No. Texas product liability claims under Chapter 82 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code run on strict liability. You prove the product was defective, that the defect existed when it left the defendant's control, and that it caused your injury. Whether the manufacturer was sloppy, rushed, or entirely diligent is beside the point.
Can I Sue the Store That Sold Me the Grill in Texas?
Usually not. Section 82.003 shields a seller that did not manufacture the product unless one of seven narrow exceptions applies, such as the seller modifying the product, controlling an inadequate warning, or knowing about the defect. The exception that matters most for grills is the last one: if the manufacturer is insolvent or beyond the reach of a Texas court, the seller can be held liable after all.
How Long Do I Have to File a Defective Product Claim in Texas?
Two years from the injury under Section 16.003, but there is a second clock most people never hear about. Section 16.012 bars most product claims filed more than 15 years after the product was sold, no matter when the injury happened. For something like a grill that families keep for a decade or more, the repose deadline is often the one that decides the case.
What Should I Do With the Grill After a Burn Injury?
Keep it, and change nothing about it. Do not repair it, do not throw out the tank, hose, or regulator, and do not let anyone haul it away. The product itself is the central evidence, and a defect claim without the product is enormously harder to prove. Photograph everything and hold on to receipts, the manual, and the packaging if you still have it.
Burn Injuries Are Expensive in Ways People Underestimate
Serious burns are among the most costly injuries there are. Grafting, infection control, repeat procedures, and months of rehabilitation stack up quickly, and scarring and range of motion problems can be permanent. The first offer in these cases is almost always built on the emergency room bill and nothing that comes after it.If you or your child was burned by a grill, propane tank, or any product that failed the way it should not have, Edgett Hawk Injury Law Firm in McKinney can get the hardware preserved and inspected before it disappears. Scott Edgett and Michael Hawk have spent decades holding manufacturers to the standard Texas law actually sets. Call us for a free consultation. There is no obligation, and you pay nothing unless we recover for you.
