Baseball Lawsuit - Will it Change Baseball?
Does the baseball bat verdict alter the way pro and amateur baseball is played?
When a jury in Helena, Montana ruled in favor of the estate of a baseball player killed when he was hit by a line drive from a metal bat, the entire baseball community took notice. Immediately, one had to wonder about the future of metal bats in amateur baseball. Almost all amateur teams use metal bats for the simple reason that they do not break, which means that they are more cost effective than wood bats.
It has always been common knowledge that balls hit off metal bats travel significantly faster than balls hit of wood bats. The Helena case did not necessarily signify the final out for metal bats; the actual verdict showed that the bat maker was negligent for its failure to properly warn that its bats were dangerous. So what are the implications of this ruling? If bat makers imprint a warning on each bat, would that be significant to evade any future adverse verdicts?
Only time will tell. It is important to note that change may be a virtual certainty, at least at some point down the road, because this is not a new problem. According to this entry in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, people inside Louisville Slugger were aware of the problem going back more than a decade, and probably longer.
As an attorney who handles lawsuits exactly like this one, in which there is a terrible tragedy which was a rare occurrence (in the substantial majority of the other people engaging in this activity do not suffer in this way), I think this lawsuit had merit, and this is not an instance of a runaway jury or an absurd verdict which highlights the problems with our judicial system. The fact that the jury did not find the bat defective probably meant that the impact of this verdict will be somewhat limited, in that it will not force the entire amateur baseball world to switch back to wood bats.
For more information on sports or baseball lawsuits, contact sports law firm Koch & Trushin, P.A.
