Attorneys representing the Sacramento Kings have claimed that the manufacturer and distributor of an exercise ball are liable for an accident that caused one of its star players to miss playing time last season.
Kings guard-forward Francisco Garcia was lifting weights on the ball, known as the Gymnic “Burst Resistant” Plus Stability Ball, when it gave way, causing him to suffer a broken wrist. At the time of the incident, Garcia was being supervised by a team trainer in the fashion directed by the distributor of the ball, according to attorneys Roger A. Dreyer and Robert A. Buccola of the law firm Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood, LLP, who are representing the Kings.
Dreyer and Buccola maintain that Italy-based manufacturer Ledraplastic, ball distributor M-F Athletic Company and Ball Dynamics International are liable for the money, $4 million, the Kings had to pay Garcia in salary, wages, benefits and medical expenses while he was injured.
“The main concern I have is to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. We want to ensure other teams — from high school players to other professional sports franchises — understand these balls are dangerous,” Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said in a press release. “We didn’t expect it to happen; it was devastating for us.”
The attorneys noted in the complaint a laboratory examined the broken ball and determined it was not abused before it exploded.
“It was advertised to be burst-resistant, but obviously it was not,” Dreyer told the media. “We will be able to prove that, for a very small expense, the ball could’ve been made thicker and provided the burst-resistant capacity as advertised.”
He added that “the manufacturers have a duty to let consumers know. But they never provided that to the Kings.”
The Kings said they attempted to settle the case with the involved parties, seeking among other things the distribution of a consumer safety statement to the public or a recall of the ball. When the named companies “would not reimburse the Kings organization for its financial loss, … the organization had no choice but to file this action,” Dreyer said.
The complaint can be found at the following link: http://dbbwlaw.com/PR/SacramentoKingsLP-Complaint.pdf
