Major League Baseball season ticket holders filed a class-action lawsuit last month against MLB and its commissioner, Rob Manfred, alleging Manfred has failed to uphold his duties to enact safety measures against the danger of foul ball and bat injuries through a widespread pattern of negligence, misrepresentations and omissions toward baseball spectators at MLB games.
The plaintiffs, represented in part by the law firms Hagens Berman and Hilliard Muñoz and Gonzales LLP, noted in the complaint that millions of fans attend MLB games each year, and are at risk for horrific and preventable injuries, such as blindness, skull fractures, severe concussions, and brain hemorrhages, when they are struck by a fast-moving baseball or the pieces of a shattered bat.
Further, they charge that the commissioner has failed to act to protect spectators. He also continued to make statements that promote Major League ballparks as safe and family-friendly and has sought to increase attendance of young fans — a demographic that is highly at risk for foul ball and bat injuries, according to the complaint.
“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. “If that foul ball is hit hard enough, reaction time is basically zero and life-threatening injury is certain.”
Hilliard added that “extending the nets” to protect more fans will save lives.
Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, agreed. “MLB players — who know the risks of baseball better than anyone — have demanded since 2007 that safety netting at MLB fields be expanded to protect near the foul ball lines, something that the commissioner failed to disclose to the public.”
Specifically, the nationwide class action seeks to change current MLB rules and practices, including requiring the MLB to retrofit all existing major league and minor league indoor and outdoor ballparks to extend protective netting from foul pole to foul pole by the beginning of the 2016-2017 MLB season. Relief sought also stipulates that all future ballparks intended to house major or minor league baseball games need to include at minimum this amount of safety netting. Plaintiffs also seek to create a program to study spectator injuries in an effort to continually reevaluate whether additional measures should be taken, so that precautionary measures can continue to evolve as the sport continues to evolve.
“The seats in the exposed areas just past the netting, along first and third base, between the foul poles, where most foul balls are hit, are often occupied by families because they are more affordable and/or protected seats are sold out,” the complaint alleges. “These seats are often occupied by young fans… However the area along the foul lines poses a particular danger to spectators. It is particularly dangerous because it is not protected from flying balls and bats by protective netting, and because traditionally, line drive fouls are normally hit flush, and send the ball at a higher velocity down the lines.”
According to the suit, the combination of right-handed power pitchers and left-handed hitters that are likely to swing late at fastballs tends to make the area behind and near the third base dugouts particularly dangerous. The first and third base lines are also dangerous because of their proximity to the bases, where players often throw at high velocity toward the bases in attempts to tag out runners.
The suit also alleges that the commissioner has actively increased distractions and entertainment in the parks to appeal to younger fans, including enhanced larger JumboTron screens and displays.
