Environmentalists Prevailed in the ‘Diesel Brothers’ Lawsuit — Get the Deets Here

Four years after a lawsuit against the Diesel Brothers was initiated in the state of Utah, David Sparks, known to fans as “Heavy D,” lost his bid to not be held liable over illegal emissions from his company’s souped-up trucks.

The founder of DieselSellerz and his co-defendants were asked to pay upwards of $800,000 to the state of Utah, despite their position that they simply build trucks people want to drive.

According to Car and Driver, the EPA’s laws when it comes to exhaust emissions from vehicles are pretty straightforward: You can’t remove the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), which keeps nasty black smoke from polluting the air.

But that’s exactly what Heavy D and his colleagues did, with the cameras rolling, according to the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, which sued the Diesel Brothers after buying a truck from the beard-wielding defendants themselves. In 2020, a judge determined that the reality stars violated the Clean Air Act and hit them with a fine of $851,451.

According to Motor Sell, Heavy D boasts a net worth of $2 million, while his co-star David Kiley, aka. “Diesel Dave,” has a fortune of $3 million. Nonetheless, the Diesel Brothers who were sued by the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, which include Heavy D, Joshua Stuart, known as “Red Beard,” and Keaton Hoskins, “The Muscle,” said they didn’t have proper funds.

But as Judge Robert Shelby noted, the TV stars show off their helicopter and two planes on the show, and Heavy D was in the process of building a 7,500-square-foot mansion most of us can only dream about.

Furthermore, as Car and Driver reports, court records prove that the Diesel Brothers star made $482,000 from his Discovery Channel partnership in just two years, from 2016 through 2018. The company’s trucks sell for $1,500 a pop, as well.

Not only did Heavy D claim he couldn’t afford to pay the fine after losing the lawsuit, but he also pushed back against the basic premise of the lawsuit, saying most of his refurbished trucks are sold outside of the state of Utah. But Judge Shelby did not find that argument compelling.

Heavy D even tried to explain to Fox 13 News why the DPF is typically removed from the tailpipe of a truck he would sell. The Diesel Brothers star noted that at around 20,000 miles the piece will become clogged, costing owners to shell out upwards of $5,000 to fix the issue.

“Whereas to bypass that, you’re [looking at] $500 to $1,000 bucks,” he added. “The vehicle runs better and gets better mileage, creating more power—that’s why people are interested in taking those off.” In other words, he disputes a lot about the suit, but not that he and his co-workers removed the pieces and polluted the air.

Watch Diesel Brothers Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on Discovery Channel.