Two years ago, Matthew Migliaccio was doing what any Little League catcher would do before a game: helping a pitcher with his bullpen session.
Matthew, then 11, says he overthrew the pitcher. The ball struck a spectator named Elizabeth Lloyd in the face.
Lloyd, who was watching her son play, was sitting at a picnic table 5 feet from the fenced-in bullpen area, which is down the third base line. She suffered multiple fractures.
“I ran over to see if she was all right,” Matthew, now 13, said during an interview, with his father at his side. “She said she was OK. I was just on with warming the pitcher up, and I was not horsing around.”
Lloyd, 45, of the Whiting section of Manchester, recently filed a lawsuit against the teen, seeking $500,000 in damages.
Riaz A. Mian, Lloyd’s attorney, filed the suit April 24 in state Superior Court, Law Division. No court date has been set. Mian said the damages his client is seeking is the maximum that the family’s homeowners insurance policy covers.
According to the lawsuit, Lloyd contends Matthew intentionally struck her, causing permanent injuries. Mian said the suit was filed after attempts to reach a settlement with insurance companies failed.
“He throws his best fast ball over the bullpen into the picnic area, striking my client in the face,” Mian said. “Life is now different for my client.”
Mian said Lloyd – who was taken to a hospital emergency room after the May 2010 incident – had to undergo reconstructive surgery and suffers from headaches.
Anthony Pagano, attorney for the Migliaccio family, called the lawsuit frivolous.
“The litigation itself is disgusting,” Pagano said. “Because a kid was throwing a baseball in a bullpen session, he is forced to retain counsel.”
Bob Migliaccio, Matthew’s father, said he thought the local Little League or its parent organization would step in after the incident.
“I want to be clear: The litigation does not shock me. People sue people everyday,” Migliaccio said. “What I was surprised about was the lack of answers and support from Little League. I cannot believe that they would not help out in this issue.”
Migliaccio described his son as a baseball junkie. Matthew, a die-hard New York Yankees fan, plays on three different teams, including the middle school team.
“Baseball is his thing,” Bob Migliaccio said. “He is always out there playing – he loves it. I don’t want that to change because of this.”
Each of the fields at the Manchester Little League Complex has signs warning spectators of foul balls, but none mention the risk of overthrown balls.
Steve Barr, media relations director for Little League, said leagues are only required to have insurance for players and coaches – not spectators. The accident insurance has been a requirement of local leagues since 1957.
“There is an inherent risk for spectators at any baseball game,” Barr said. “Our local leagues have accident insurance that covers only league-related personnel (coaches, players, etc.), and only in league-related activities. That insurance does not cover spectators.”
The incident and the lawsuit have made the family decide to step back from the league. Bob Migliaccio said he has taken a break from coaching, while his wife, Sue, has stepped down as manager of the league’s snack stand.
Matthew continues to play, his father said.
“Matthew still plays, but we want to step back because we did not want it to be uncomfortable for anyone,” Bob Migliaccio said.
Migliaccio hopes the incident does not affect his son’s love of the game.
“He never stops playing,” Migliaccio said. “Baseball is what defines him at this time.”
Ashbury Park Press
But there was the 2002 case of the little girl in Ohio who died after being hit with a puck during an NHL game. Her family threatened to sue the team, the league and the arena, and ultimately settled. The NHL even mandated the use of nets from the top of the glass to the ceiling in all its arenas after the case.
"the suit was filed after attempts to reach a settlement with insurance companies failed"
they aren't trying to sue the kid to rob his piggy bank or even to take his own personal money. it sounds more like the victims insurance doesn't want to cover the ER and reconstructive surgery bills, the family probably doesn't have the money to cover them, and when the insurance companies couldn't decide on a settlement - then they proceeded to sue the kid who threw the pitch.
while it is unfortunate a minor is being named in the suit, especially if (since?) this was an accident, but if you were the victims family who had medical bills they cant pay and an insurance company who wont...you dont have many other options. and they tried to do it through his insurance company first, so he personally wouldn't be involved and when the insurance wouldn't pay, this was a last resort.
And if I had to wager, I'd say her insurance company is suing in her name because they don't want to be on the hook for the bills. (But then a *half-mil* suit makes me think it's just straight-up greed, so I dunno.)
Insurance is whack.
He's a KID.
It was BASEBALL GAME, where balls fly and sometimes don't land where we'd like them to. It's unfortunate, but when you leave your house? Sometimes bad shit happens. The answer is not to sue a child who was playing a game.
I mean, if you get a ringside seat to a game, surely you acknowledge you're at more risk than if you were sitting way back in the stands?
I don't know about LL's bullpens, but the bullpens in most MLB bullpen are usually cornered off from the public in a way that's hard for it to sail off to the seats although some balparks are old as hell or built oddly that they don't have a typical bullpen.
Oh yeah, people who sit on the field area know there is a chance you can get hurt by a hard hit foul or even a bat! They only corner off the field seats behind home plate because beaten off fouls can come in 100+ miles per an hour (although LL, I think it may not top 90 mph but it's still dangerous).
Erm, why would he? Was she wearing a Mets jersey?
It's also definitely not outside of the realm of possibility that the kid overthrew. It happened a lot when I played softball, which was back around the age range of this kid. All it takes to have a ball go zipping off to God knows where is releasing it just a touch too early, whether by it slipping off of your fingers or otherwise. Hell, I had a plastic ball slip off of my fingers a few years ago at a midway. Zoomed way out off to the side and hit the carnival worker for the game right on the inside of the thigh.
I was with a friend who slipped on a wet floor and broke her arm at a concert at a venue in Philadelphia. I didn't realize she was trying to sue for more than just medical bills at the time and I was dropped as a witness as soon as her lawyer figured out that I wasn't going to go for the whole "my life is difficult now and I have permanent scarring" bull crap. I mean, I know it hurt and she was out of work and had to have surgery...but still. Needless to say, she LOST...didn't even get medical bills covered. I haven't discussed it with her but I think her lawyer put her up to it and as soon as she got too greedy, the jury just saw her as a spoiled brat trying to get as much money as possible.
That's what I'm hoping for here. Too bad this family has to go through the whole law suit though...nobody wins here.
*edited for grammar wtf-ery.
Edited at 2012-07-05 05:44 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2012-07-05 08:25 pm (UTC)
The normal amount to sue for is the limits of the policy. You can reduce, but you can't add to it.
The person who performed the injury is always the one who gets sued, not the insurance company. In this case, I'd expect the kid, his parents, the LL association, and possibly the city, if it's a public ball field, to all be on the lawsuit. You can take people off, but not add them on.
In MANY cases, insurance companies won't pay off without a lawsuit, or possibly even a judgment, against their client. So you HAVE to end up suing.
So while this is a crappy thing for the kid and family to go through, it's pretty much standard operating procedure.
i feel bad for the woman because it sounds like a very unfortunate accident that's cause her a lot of pain, but jfc.
(they lost because the girl who sued tried to say she couldn't work because her back was fugged and my dad's lawyer totally busted her hauling in heavy boxes into a freezer at the local McDs.)
Sure, suing a 13 year old is distasteful but this is what you get with our fucked up system.
If you're not afraid of hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, well goody for you, but I for one do not have that kind of money.
The actual fucked-up part of the article: insurance companies that take your premiums yet refuse to insure you. The woman will probably not be getting $500k if she wins, she'll get her non-covered medical costs and maybe legal costs. But she shouldn't have to be taking this kid to court, if her insurers had actually covered her costs and his family's insurers had actually covered his mistake. They're the real greedy fucks in this case, not the woman who needed reconstructive surgery.
Ashbury Park Press
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