Before anyone goes and starts their bashing, I do truly feel sorry for the young man. This doesn't mean I agree that the parents should go on to sue everyone involved. How any judge could hold any of these parties accountable is beyond me. Every parent knows the risk. Every parent with any sports knowledge knows that a ball comes off the bat faster with an aluminum bat vs. a wooden bat. I have so much to say on the subject but I won't. I will ask one question though......if your the parent would you sue? A New Jersey teenager left brain-damaged after being struck by a line drive off a metal bat while he was playing in a youth baseball game will receive $14.5 million to settle his lawsuit against the bat manufacturer, Little League Baseball and a sporting goods chain. The settlement of Steven Domalewski's lawsuit was announced in state Superior Court on Wednesday morning in Passaic County. The boy, now 18, lives in Wayne, N.J. His family had claimed the metal bat was unsafe because baseballs could carom off it at much faster speeds than wooden bats. ''The Domalewskis are still saddened by the tragic events of June 2006, but this settlement provides them with some relief and comfort that Steven will get the care he needs for the rest of his life,'' said the family's attorney, Ernest Fronzuto. ''He still can't perform any functions of daily life on his own.'' Stephen D. Keener, president and CEO of Little League Baseball Inc., said the settlement guarantees that ''Steven Domalewski will receive the lifetime care he will require as a result of this tragic accident, a type of accident that is extremely rare in youth baseball.'' Fronzuto said the settlement precluded him from discussing its details, including whether any of the defendants admitted liability. Domalewski was pitching when the batter rocketed a line drive off the metal bat he was swinging. The ball slammed into Steven's chest, just above his heart, knocking him backward. He clutched his chest, then made a motion to reach for the ball on the ground to pick it up and throw to first base to get the runner out. But he never made it that far. The ball had struck his chest at the precise millisecond between heartbeats, sending him into cardiac arrest, according to his doctors. He crumpled to the ground and stopped breathing. His father, Joseph, a teacher who had been on the sideline with the rest of the team, said he and a third base coach from the other team both ran onto the field, where Steven was already turning blue. Someone yelled, ''Call 911!'' Within 90 seconds, a man trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation who had been playing catch with his 9-year-old daughter jumped over the fence and started to work on Steven. Paramedics, who were a quarter-mile away doing a CPR demonstration, got to Steven within minutes, placed an oxygen mask over his face and rushed him to a hospital. But the damage had been done; his brain had been without oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes. ''Pretty much, he died,'' Joseph Domalewski said in a 2008 interview with The Associated Press. ''It was just so fast. The thud, you could hear. When it hit him, that seemed to echo.'' Domalewski was playing in a Police Athletic League game, but Little League was sued because the group certifies that specific metal bats are approved for - and safe for - use in games involving children. Rick Redman, a spokesman for Hillerich and Bradsby, manufacturers of the Louisville Slugger brand bat, confirmed a settlement had been reached, but declined further comment. An attorney representing The Sports Authority, the national sporting goods retailer, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Little League reached an agreement with the major manufacturers in the early 1990s to limit metal bats' performance to that of the best wooden bats. Little League said in 2008 that injuries to its pitchers fell from 145 a year before the accord was reached to the current level of about 20 to 30 annually. The organization's website lists scores of metal-barreled bat models that remain approved for use in Little League play.
Yes, it is a tragedy that this young man was hurt. Was there criminal or civil neglegence that on the part of the league that caused this injury? Could the same injury have happened with a wooden bat? Was the sporting goods store negligent for selling these bats? Did the police league force this child to play against his and his parents will? The answers as I see them would be: Criminal or civil negligence - NO Wood bat same results - YES Sporting Goods Store Liable - NO Force to play - NO The parents gave the child permission to play in the league and in most places have to sign a liability waiver. Baseball bats, whether metal or wooden, can cause injury. Baseballs can cause injuries and this all is common knowledge. This was a freak accident, but if anyone should be held responsible, it should be the parents for allowing their son to play a game that that has objects that can cause injury. People sue when someone gets hurt in situations like this because they cannot accept their own responsibility. What bothers me is the courts and juries let it happen.
Sad case... no one's fault. There is an assumed danger which is inherited in all sports. I am glad he is getting help but I hate for any lawyer to get involved. Lawyers: A waste of good oxygen that could be better used to rot a compost pile.
I read this article and I really could not believe it. Yes it is a tragic thing, but that is one heck of a settlement figure. I remember when I was in little league we all wanted wooden bats and they would not allow us to use them because they did not want bats breaking sending debris at all of the in field players which we all know readily happens. Yes a wooden bat does launch a ball at a slower speed than an aluminum bat, but the rate of speed of wood shrapnel coming out you would more than likely cause more injuries then this freak accident
Played ball from the time I was 8 all the way up to my sophmore year of college with aluminum bats. In all those games there was not one injury from a metal bat. I'm suprised that they would not let you use wooden bats in little league. The odds of you breaking a wooden bat at that age is probably zero. The pitchers aren't throwing hard enough for you to break one. College has now since gone to a metal/wood hybrid bat. I hit with one a couple months ago and really didn't see much difference. Definately not as much "pop", but it was still there. I remember when this incident happened and that's why this article caught my eye. I know the risks of the sport I loved to play, still follow and coach. Had this been my son, I would not have sued.
Question How would you have cared for him? Take the Michigan players brother who was involved in an accident. His insurance company said he maxed out his rehab funds and lost it. So what happens when you lose your insurance? How do you pay for his care? I am not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone here or what the family did. Just simply asking where would you get the funds to care for your child if this happen.
That is my only real concern. Its a crap situation and as much as I hate these frivelous lawsuits, they all do have some merit. But I also think that the lawyers and the family did try and capitalize on it... I am no expert but I feel that 14million is a bit excessive. I do believe the family should be compensated for their sons continued care because he does need it for the rest of his hopefully long life. However, if his family it doing the care taking, does it really require 14million? Or are they going to just stick him in a nursing home for the rest of his life? When I read the article and some of the qoutes, it made me feel as if the family was bitter that they had a brain dead child they hard to care for and essentially limit their own lives
So what you are saying, Germ, is to pass the buck off to someone else? Make them responsible for it even though they have nothing to do with it? Kinda like the new health care system, eh? Just put it on the tax payers which ultimately happens with law suits.
Why? Didn't you say earlier that it was not the fault of the league, the bat manufacturer, or the sporting goods store? Why are you back peddling all of a sudden. What if this injury happened while the father and son were playing catch, because it could have? Would you agree with sueing the glove maker because the glove didn't catch the ball? Come on now....you can't have you cake and eat it too.
Probably through my employment. No where in the article did it say that his parents insurance plan has dropped him. Case in point, I had a friend who had a motorcylce accident and is now left with the brain capacity of a 4 year old and is in a wheel chair. The parents didn't sue the helmet maker because it didn't save his brain. They didn't sue the bike maker because he was driving it too fast around a curve. No, they did what people do with morals and ethics and are taking care of their son and paying for it with the money they make everyday.
Ridiculous. Judges who issue these types of decisions need to be removed from office. There is NO way anyone should have received any money. And Germ, how they go about getting money for their son's care is on them, not on some poor company or organization that was hosting a youth baseball game. I know for me and this is going to sound awful.........I would rather die than live massively brain dead every day. These types of lawsuits are indicative of which way America has twisted in a relatively short period of time. This is sickening.
The suit seems frivolous, but sometimes the full story or context is missing. As an example, the case where the lady that spilled her coffee in her lap causing burns and was awarded a large sum received similar criticism. However in her state, serving coffee hot enough to cause burns was a clear violation of the state law as selling a product hot enough to cause burns would've been considered 'defective'. Coupled with thousands of prior cases of burns, was enough for the court to warrant (in their eyes) a large settlement as there seemed to be a clear willful disregard to comply with the law. I don't know if there is an underlying reason, beyond the claim made that the ball travels too fast off the manufacturers bat. From the information in the article above, it seems frivolous. But sometimes there really is more to the story than is printed, enough to support the court's decision.
Im not saying that those 3 particulars should be sued, but someone does need to be sued. I dont really feel I am back peddling. Let me ask you, if you have insurance that you pay into every single month and this happens to your son and the insurance company decides hey you know what, we've paid out when we can and thats it, you need to start footing the bill. Do you think that is fair? My father is non-stop in the hospital due to breathing conditions from iron working at Groun Zero... Is healthcare cut him off, because they do not understand why he is not getting better, they do not understand why he keeps going into the hospital. They will not send him to a specalist because they "paid enough money" as they said. Now he has paid into his health fund since he started ironworking at 18yrs old, and other then normal medical visits this is his only major medical. Do you feel its ok that he needs to foot the bill becase his healthcare paid out and no one will insure him anymore? I do not agree with suing the league, the bat company or the sport goods store, but I do feel the insurance company should be sued. Perhaps the insurance company demaded sueing the 3 other entities because they dont want to payout. As far as playing ball with your dad in the backyard, yes this certainly could have happened. And again I raise the insurance issue.
The bats being used in the youth ages have rediculous ball exit speeds today. Couple that with close pitcher mound and you have a recipe for disaster. I am glad to see the bbcor standard being adopted by high school and college. Aluminum that hits like wood. LL knew there was an issue with bats getting too hot for kids to react. IMO, they were negligent. Some if you need to go to a youth game and see how 80# kid with bad mechanics hits the ball 300 feet. I watched a 12 year old hit a ball 350' my son was at 3rd. Coaches backed him up to the outfield for safety. Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
You find someone who had nothing to do with your injury to sue... thereby creating another set of victims. That's the American way. In this case, lawyers playing on the sympathy vote from the jurors and a judge who doesn't want to touch emotive lawyering with a ten foot pole. The answer may be in increasing the coverage limits of sport teams/leagues or parent's taking out specific policies to cover their children in the event of traumatic sport injuries.
I have a similar situatution... Friend of mines little brother was dirtbiking and hit by another man on a dirtbike who was drunk... Broke about every bone in his kid brothers face and almost died in my friends arms... The drunk piece of trash was unemployed and had no insurance, and my friends family was working class great people. They felt the man had enough problems so they did not sue him. The family insurance covered the medical bills until up to a point when doctors could not figure out why he was leaking fluid from his head or why he was having seizures etc... He was and is still in and out of the hospital, the insurance company said that the family would have to sue the drunk or else they will not provide coverage and will not pay another penny... The family still said no the man has a famiy and is down and out on his luck were not suing. So the family does what they can do pay for the continuing medical bills and struggles everytime with it. Fund raisers have been thrown, benefits etc... anything to help them pay the bills for their son. But because of this he does not get the best care around, he does have to deal with pain at times until something more serious happens.... You feel this is ok? You feel that some "poor" unsuspecting insurance provider that a family paid into for years and years can just drop you because your bills are too high? What about when this baseball players family dies? Whos insurance is going to cover him then? What about my friends brother, what insurance company is going to give someone with massive head injuries insurance coverage? My girlfriends mom has central nervous system injuries from horse back accident, her husband passed away a few years ago. The insurance company would not insure her after 3 years because of her ongoing medical issues and dropped her. She has to use medicare now because that is the only insurance help she can get. Again, a man who payed into insurance for years, never even had a broken bone dies and they drop the widow because of a previous accident.... You feel you should not sue that poor insurnace company as well?
Since the parents permitted this child to play in the sport, knowing sports injuries do happen, they have to accept the consequences of the accident. If the insurance you purchase puts limits on care for someone permanently injured, you accepted that when you signed up for that insurance. Just because at the time you signed up for that insurance you didn't think you'd ever need that coverage does not alleviate your responsibility to accept the consequences of your own actions. Life is not fair. Never has been, never will be. No matter how well you think you've planned and protected your child, stuff happens that no one could have predicted. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can quit looking through rose tinted lenses. As for the other post that asked what do you do after your benefits run out, we adjusted our lifestyle to be able to incorporate the new bills into our budget. A lot of the stuff we felt was necessities turned out to be just luxuries we thought we could not live without. You keep making adjustments to care for that child, because no matter what, they are still your child.
