A motion by attorneys for Louisville Slugger to throw out a jury verdict that found them liable for a 2003 baseball player's death has been denied by a district judge in Montana.
In the motion, Louisville Slugger argued that attorneys for the parents of Miles City baseball pitcher Brandon Patch failed to produce evidence that had a warning been given, Patch would have changed his actions to avoid injury, according to the Billings Gazette.
The American Legion baseball player died after he was struck by a ball that was hit by an aluminum bat. Patch's parents sued the company in 2006. The suit went to trial in October. After 12 hours of deliberation, a jury sided with the Patches and awarded them $850,000. The jury ruled that while the bat was not defective in design, the ordinary user was not properly warned of its dangers.
In the ruling, District Judge Kathy Seeley dismissed arguments citing a prior case in which the person was injured but not killed. Testimony in the trial gave evidence that Patch would follow guidelines and rules and therefore would have altered his actions if a warning had been given, Seeley ruled.
“The Court has not been able to locate any Montana cases that are analogous to the case at bar with respect to the failure to warn involving a deceased plaintiff, and the parties have cited none,” the order stated.
