Bob Collins
When a woman was badly injured by a foul ball broken bat in Boston earlier this season, you had to suspect that there’d be a cry for more protection for spectators at baseball games.
Today is the day it happened, Sports Illustrated reports, with the filing of a class action lawsuit to compel Major League Baseball to put a net up stretching from one foul pole to the other.
“Every type of fan is constantly at risk of serious injury or death. From infants to the elderly to anyone in between – all are just one pitch away from a line drive foul ball heading at them at lightning speed,” said Robert Hilliard, partner at Hilliard Muñoz and Gonzales LLP, said in a news release. “If that foul ball is hit hard enough, reaction time is basically zero and life-threatening injury is certain.”
The personal injury lawyer said any baseball fan with a season ticket on the first- or third-base line is eligible to join the lawsuit.
But he said the suit doesn’t seek any monetary damages.
Immediately after the Fenway Park incident, several legal experts also called for an end to the “baseball rule,” which says fans have a duty to pay attention to the game to avoid getting hit by bats and/or balls.
How is Tonya Carpenter, the woman who was hit, doing? That’s a whole ‘nother legal mess.
She made her first public appearance today at a closed-door court hearing. Her ex-husband is trying to get custody of their sonn, claiming she’s unable to care for him.
A GoFundMe effort to help raise money for her expenses raised only $22,000, about $33,000 less than a man who wanted money to make potato salad.
