Logging company claims hydraulic fluid was defective

LUFKIN - A logging company has filed a lawsuit against the company that manufactured its hydraulic fluid claiming the fluid was defective and caused numerous problems with their logging equipment.

Brisco Logging Inc. and Karl Brisco filed suit against TruSouth Oil and PetroTech Energy LLC on Aug. 14, 2012 in Shelby County District Court. The defendants removed the case to the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division on June 21. 

The plaintiffs alleged that their equipment was damaged due to hydraulic oil that was sold by the defendants. According to the lawsuit, PetroTech sold TruSouth a blended base stock, which was mixed with other liquids to produce hydraulic fluid.

Brisco Logging claims they used the hydraulic fluid supplied by the defendants in their equipment and as a result experienced numerous problems, including pump and other hydraulic system failures.

Brisco argues that the formulation of the blended base stock was changed in June 2010 and the new formula had a high acidic content and oxidized quickly under heat and pressure. TruSouth claims that it did not detect or discover that the new formulation of blended base stock.

The plaintiffs claim that they attempted numerous repairs on their equipment and were eventually notified by other companies that the hydraulic fluid was defective.

The defendants are accused of negligence, breach of warranties, strict product liability and deceptive trade practices.

Brisco is asking for an award of damages for the costs of repairing or replacing equipment damaged by the hydraulic fluid, the costs of storing equipment damaged by the hydraulic fluid while waiting on repairs, transportation costs, lost profits, damage to plaintiffs’ credit, loss of value in equipment, attorney’s fees, interest and court costs.

The plaintiffs are represented by W. Wade Flasowski, Russell R. Smith and Chris Hughes of Fairchild, Price, Haley & Smith LLP in Nacogdoches.

Case No. 9:13-cv-00195