A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Inc. filed by a man who was injured by a defective gas container, manufactured by a now-bankrupt firm, that was allegedly sold by the retailer.

In April 2015, Charles Jackson set out to burn a small debris pile in the backyard of his Alabama home, according to Tuesday’s ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta in Charles Jackson v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Wal-Mart Stores East LP.

Because parts of the pile were moist and some of the wood in it was green, he had difficulty getting it to ignite, so he retrieved a plastic gas container he had inherited from his father that was manufactured by Miami, Oklahoma-based Blitz USA Inc.

The container did not have a flame arrestor, a small inexpensive metal device placed at the container’s opening that prevents potential flames from traveling back into the container, according to the ruling.

Burning debris ignited the vapor trail left by the container. The fire traveled into the container, causing it to explode and cover Mr. Jackson in burning gas, according to the ruling.

He spent more than 280 days in the hospital, receiving treatment including removal of damaged tissue and skin grafts. Treatment costs have exceeded $1 million so far, according to the ruling.

Blitz, the largest manufacturer of plastic gas containers in the United States, filed for bankruptcy in 2011, in part because of losses incurred from incidents similar to what happened to Mr. Jackson, according to the ruling.

Mr. Jackson said his father had purchased the container at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Falcon, Colorado, 20 to 30 miles away from where he lived, between 2007 and 2013.

He filed suit against Bentonville, Arkansas-Based Wal-Mart in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama, on charges including breach of implied warranty of merchantability and negligence.

The district court granted Wal-Mart’s motion to dismisses the lawsuit, which was reinstated by a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel.

The central question is whether Mr. Jackson has pleaded enough facts to plausibly show his father purchased the container from Wal-Mart, said the appeals court ruling, which concludes he did.

During the time when Mr. Jackson’s father lived in Calhan, Colorado, a small rural town, he shopped exclusively at Wal-Mart, which sold “tens of millions of Blitz containers” that were not equipped with the flame protectors, said the ruling.

The complaint “plausibly alleges Jackson’s rather bought the container from Wal-Mart,” said the ruling. “Ultimately, Mr. Jackson may not be able to prove this. However, that is not the proper inquiry at this stage,”’ said the ruling, in reversing the lower court and remanding the case for further proceedings.