A wrongful death lawsuit over an exploding tire should be allowed to move forward, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The court said a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge erroneously dismissed the case over a faulty interpretation of a federal law that gives leeway to people on active duty in the military in meeting statutes of limitation.

Scott Wilcox sued Les Schwab Tire Centers of Oregon Inc. and Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. in 2014 after a tire his wife was holding on her lap exploded and caused severe injuries, according to his lawsuit and a summary of the case by the Appeals Court. The suit seeks $10.5 million in damages.

Wilcox had bought a set of four Toyo tires from a Les Schwab store on NE Sandy Boulevard in Portland in 2004 for his two-seat BWM Z3, the court documents said.

In late March 2010, he and his wife were driving the BMW in the United Kingdom near the Scottish border while on leave from active duty in the Air Force. Wilcox had shipped the BMW to Suffolk while stationed in England, according to his suit.

The car was making an unusual vibration, so the couple stopped to check the tires. Wilcox got advice from a mechanic and replaced the rear passenger tire with a temporary spare, the court documents said.

His wife, Jenna Wilcox, put the tire that caused the vibration on her lap in the car instead of leaving it on the side of the road while they drove in search of help.

The explosion caused a significant head injury, fractured a vertebra and lacerated Jenna Cox’s liver, the suit said.

She died on April 1, 2010.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Chris Marshall ruled Wilcox, as the personal representative of his wife’s estate, had failed to meet the three-year statute of limitations to file suit in her death.

But the Appeals Court said the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act should have applied in the case.

The act says in part that a military member’s service shouldn’t be included in computing “any period limited by law.”

The act says service members must be allowed to “devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the nation.”

Wilcox, on active duty until September 2011, argued that he met the statute of limitations because he filed the suit within three years of his discharge.

The Appeals Court reversed the dismissal.

Dale Thompson, chief marketing officer at Les Schwab, recognized the “tragic nature” of the incident in a statement late Thursday.

“Our hearts go out to this family,” he said. “We cannot comment on details of pending litigation, especially in this situation where the manufacturer has been the primary respondent in this case. We’ve made safety a core part of our culture and over the course of more than 65 years have established a strong reputation of putting our customers first as a result.”