Crime & Safety
Faulty Pump Spewed Gasoline and Burned Lockport Woman's Lungs: Lawsuit
A Lockport woman claims her lungs were injured when a pump at a Homer Glen service station malfunctioned.
A malfunctioning gas pump spewed fuel into a Lockport woman's lungs and landed her in the hospital for a week, said the lawyer suing an oil company on her behalf.
"The way she described it to me, it was like her lungs were on fire and she couldn't catch her breath," attorney Frank Cservenyak said of his client, 64-year-old Martha Farmer.
Farmer was pumping gas into her car at the 12007 159th St. Speedway station in Homer Glen in January 2011 when the pump failed to shut off, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Will County court.
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The pump kept running and continued "to spray gasoline upon patrons," the suit says.
"You take it for granted that it's going to turn off," said Cservenyak, telling how gasoline "mist and vapor" got into Farmer's lungs while the out-of-control pump was discharging fuel.
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The lawsuit names Speedway, Speedway SuperAmerica and Marathon Oil Company as defendants. Speedway is based in Springfield, Ohio, and Marathon Oil is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
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