Bat Maker Liable In Player Death

((HT: Helena Independent Record/Brandt))

Aluminum bat maker Hillerich & Bradsby Co. failed to provide adequate warning as to the dangers of the bat- at least eight of 12 Lewis and Clark County, Montana jurors agreed Wednesday.

Hillerich & Bradsby Co. was ordered to pay $792,000 to her son, Brandon Patch's estate, which is represented by his mother, Debbie (pictured, thanks John Doran/Helena Independent Receord), who filed the suit. Those funds were allotted to cover the lost earnings Patch would have made had he lived, and the pain he suffered from the injury before he died about four hours after being struck in the temple with a batted ball.

"This was for Brandon and the kids on the field," Debbie Patch said after hearing the ruling. "We just hoped we could get the truth out for more people to see."

The jurors found the company, which makes Louisville Slugger bats, liable for failing to warn users of the danger of its aluminum bats and that this failure caused the accident that killed Brandon Patch.

A third decision was that the bat was not defective.

Attorneys representing Debbie Patch argued during the week-long trial that the bat used on July 25, 2003, was defective because it was more dangerous than the average user would expect.

Another $58,000 was awarded by the five-man, seven-woman jury to parents Debbie and Duane Patch for their mental grief and funeral expenses. The original suit, filed in June 2006, did not seek a specified amount.

"We just want to save someone else's life," Debbie Patch explained. Attorneys for Hillerich & Bradsby Co. argued any other bat would not have hit the ball differently; in fact, they said, most bats on the market at the time would have struck the ball harder. Patch's death was a tragic accident, they said.

The defense lawyers declined comment after the verdict was read.

Here's your wrap from Helena with Kay Rossi sitting in a newsroom...


Those of us at OSG HQ says that this screams for an appeal...
Baseball players, especially pitchers, know what they're getting into when they step on the field. Unfortunately, players get hurt in these kinds of game situations.

Just ask Bryce Florie what wer're talking about...
((HT: ABC7/Fort Myers, Florida))


Florie has not once, to our knowledge, raised any kind of stink...
What's next for Louisville Sluggers...???
Warning labels...???

Just axin'...
Last time we checked this fell under what we know, legally, as "assumed risk."