Parents File Chicago Products Liability Lawsuit Against Baseball Bat Maker Easton-Bell Sports Inc.
Seven months after 11-year-old Jake Schutter suffered a brain injury when he was hit on the head by a baseball, his parents are suing Easton-Bell Sports Inc. for Chicago personal injury to a minor. The company is the manufacturer and designer of the Easton BT265 bat.
According to the Chicago products liability complaint of Cheryl and Robert Schutter, Jake was injured while pitching for the Mokena Blaze in Hecht Park on May 5. A batter using the Easton bat hit a line drive into the pitcher’s mound and the baseball struck Jake on the left side of the head. He started vomiting right away. He now cannot hear out of his left ear.
The Schutters contend that their son lacked the ability and time to react before being struck by the ball. They are also claiming that Easton-Bell markets the bat for kids to use even though the exit speed of the ball off the metal bat is not a match for the perceived reaction time of a pitcher or player who is 42 to 46 feet away. They are arguing that the bat’s construction and design caused the baseball’s exit speed to be so great that their son could not react to protect himself. They blame Easton for failing to observe the known hazards and dangers that pitchers face.
The Schutters are seeking at least $75,000 in damages.
Metal Bats
There has been a debate for some time now over whether metal bats should be banned. Earlier this year, a 16-year-old high school pitcher ended up in a coma for weeks and had undergo surgery to reattach part of his skull after he was struck by a pitch hit by a metal bat. Questions have been raised over whether the “hyper-performance of high tech metal bans,” as California Assemblyman Jared Huffman put it, “has gone too far” and metal baseball bats are now posing a serious injury and death risk to kids.
Family Sues Baseball Bat Maker Over Boy’s Injury, MyFox, December 8, 2010
Bat maker sued after injury, The Herald-News, December 8, 2010
As injuries mount, debate over metal baseball bats continues, USA Today, June 30, 2010
Should metal bats be banned?, Consumer Reports, May 24, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Products Liability, Justia
