Caterpillar settles lawsuit in tractor-explosion death

The Caterpillar Tractor Co. has settled its part of a lawsuit over the death of a man who was killed in the fiery explosion of a piece of heavy construction equipment he was driving.

District Judge Mark Gibbons last week approved the $250,000 settlement for the heirs of Mario Hernandez over the July 1991 incident at a Las Vegas construction site.

The case, however, isn't finalized because Cashman Equipment Co. and Cree Equipment Inc. are still targeted in the legal action. A trial is scheduled for July 12.

Hernandez was killed after gasoline in the tractor he was driving spewed out and ignited.

The tractor had been built as a gasoline-powered vehicle but converted by Caterpillar to natural gas. The lawsuit states that Cree converted it back to gasoline, perhaps removing protective shielding in the process, before it was turned over to Cashman for sale.

Cashman is alleged to have sold the equipment without ensuring it was in safe operating condition.

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