In what can only be described as one of the most bizarre lawsuits ever filed, a New Jersey woman is suing an area 13-year-old because she suffered injuries after he made an errant throw at a Little League game. Making the case more extreme is the fact that the prospective defendant wasn't even 13 when he made the throw that accidentally struck the victim: He was 11.
As first reported by the Asbury Park Press and quickly followed upon by the Associated Press and a variety of other sources, Manchester Township, N.J., resident Elizabeth Lloyd has filed a lawsuit seeking an astounding $150,000 in damages related to medical costs incurred after suffering an injury at a Manchester Little League game in 2010. The $150,000 total reportedly doesn't even include an additional unspecified sum being sought for pain and suffering.
The accident which eventually led to Lloyd's suit came when a catcher, then 11-year-old Matthew Migliaccio, attempted to throw a ball back to a pitcher in the bullpen while he was warming up the reliever. Migliaccio's throw soared above the pitcher's glove and somehow escaped from the fenced-in bullpen at the Little League facility, eventually striking Lloyd in the face at the picnic table at which she was sitting.
Migliaccio and his family's representatives have steadfastly insisted the injury was the result of a genuine accident, but Lloyd and her lawyers are now claiming that the young catcher's throw was intentionally offline, leading to "severe, painful and permanent injuries." Lloyd's lawsuit has categorized the elementary schooler's throw as assault and battery.
Another claim in the suit seeks to prove that Migliaccio was involved in "inappropriate physical and/or sporting activity" near Lloyd when she was struck. Making matters worse for the now 13-year-old, Lloyd's husband has also filed suit against the Migliaccio family, claiming that he has lost the "services, society and consortium of his wife" as a result of her injuries.
As one might expect (and perhaps hope), the lawyer representing the Migliaccio family is desperately attempting to have all three claims dismissed as utterly frivolous.
"I just think that it's disgusting that you have people suing an 11-year-old kid for overthrowing his pitcher in the bullpen," Anthony Pagano, who is representing the Migliaccio family, told the AP. "It's horrible this can actually happen and get this far. Ultimately, hopefully, justice will prevail."
As for the family of the prospective defendant, the boy's father insisted they cannot even believe that their son's bullpen accident has reached the lawsuit stage.
"The whole thing has almost been surreal," Bob Migliaccio, Matthew's father, told the AP. "We keep thinking it's just going to go away, and then a week and a half ago a sheriff shows up at my door to serve my son the papers.
"It's absurd to expect every 11-year-old to throw the ball on target. Everyone knows you've got to watch out. You assume some risk when you go out to a field. That's just part of being at a game.
Not really a 'big important news article!' but I figured the WTF factor warranted a post. I mean, the kid is 13, so I hope that the woman is actually suing the Little League. But still...the kid was 11 and overthrew a pitch, so really describes it the best.
Last edited by D.Turtle on 2012-06-26 08:54am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Fixed the url tag. - D.Turtle
Solauren wrote:If you are near any form of sporting event, there is a risk of bystander injury.
Agreed. This is literally the textbook example of implied consent to risk; if you study tort law, they will talk about how watching a baseball game in person carries the implicit agreement that an accident might happen and you might get hit by the ball.
The lady is a moron anyways. If you want to be a greedy bitch you sue the league, not the boy. The league has insurance the boy's parents might not even own their own home.
Don't reduce it to just that; of course she's being a greedy bitch. But from her point of view, someone else's action caused her harm, and she doesn't want to foot the bill. Modern society has bred this, and we talk about it every time there's one of these threads.
I wonder if they should just ensure that the League takes our insurance for its players to fix the problem.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
One wonders just how much of a 'problem' it really is. I've seen 11 year olds play baseball...heck, I got hit in the eye by one of them once. 150 thousand dollars? I just can't see that much damage being done in medical bills...
JME2 wrote:Yeah, everything about this lady screams greedy bitch.
Would you want to cover $150,000 in medical expenses out of your own pocket ?
Could you even afford to ?
I know I couldn't. So if I were in her position and I was either uninsured, or my insurance refused to pay out, I'd probably consider suing someone. After all, she didn't cause the injury to herself, so I don't see why she should be out of pocket.
Now the unspecific amount for pain and suffering, along with her husbands lawsuit, are them being greedy. But not the 150k for medical expenses.
Skywalker_T-65 wrote:One wonders just how much of a 'problem' it really is. I've seen 11 year olds play baseball...heck, I got hit in the eye by one of them once. 150 thousand dollars? I just can't see that much damage being done in medical bills...
That is a good point. But I'm taking this article at it's word over the cost of medical treatment unless someone can provide more detail.
I do notice that the link to the article is broken.
Hmm...thats weird...I know I linked it right. And I went back to check Yahoo, and the article was gone...thats just great. Well, I copied the whole article down, so there isn't any more to it other than other links that were on the page.
EDIT: Assuming there were more links, I sure didn't see any.
Skywalker_T-65 wrote:One wonders just how much of a 'problem' it really is. I've seen 11 year olds play baseball...heck, I got hit in the eye by one of them once. 150 thousand dollars? I just can't see that much damage being done in medical bills...
Depends. When you're 45 years old your bones aren't what they used to be, and nerve damage could be expensive to fix. American hospitals aren't exactly cheap, especially if they shuffle you around until they finally diagnose the problem.
Granted, anything past the medical bills is overkill, but I don't see this getting very far. If anything she should've gone after the little league.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
One of my bosses told a story which was in turn told by someone else... but essentially when this colleague was a teenager in a skiing trip overseas he accidentally injured a hot shot lawyer in a skiing accident. I think he did break a rule and he accidentally gave his name. Eventually police showed up at his parent's place in Scotland serving papers. Fortunately the insurance covered it, otherwise they might have to sell the house. But there you go. You can be sued for an accident.
Now assuming the $150 K is real, how many here can actually afford to pay it? Come on, raise your hands.
Ok, anybody besides me?
How many people here would be bankrupted if they had to pay this medical costs, yet alone time off any work etc (both for you and your partner)? If the report is taken at face value, the throw cleared the little league bullpen, so she most probably isn't watching the game (and its become less reasonable to expect her to put up with the risk associated with turning up to a ball game).
I can certainly understand why she would be pissed off. However I do think the league would be in a better position to recompense than the family.
In this case its a sad story all round, but seriously, no sympathy for being $150 000 out of pocket through no fault of your own? I am going to agree with Simon Jester here.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
JME2 wrote:Yeah, everything about this lady screams greedy bitch.
Would you want to cover $150,000 in medical expenses out of your own pocket ?
Could you even afford to ?
I know I couldn't. So if I were in her position and I was either uninsured, or my insurance refused to pay out, I'd probably consider suing someone. After all, she didn't cause the injury to herself, so I don't see why she should be out of pocket.
Now the unspecific amount for pain and suffering, along with her husbands lawsuit, are them being greedy. But not the 150k for medical expenses.
Reading the first lines I thought this would be another slanted article. ie the insurance company requires the suit or something like that. Like you are alluding to here, but a couple of things stand out telling us there must be more to this story.
1) She is filing it 1-2 years after the fact. Why? Did she think some insurance would cover it and then it didn't?
2) She is suing the boy, not the park or the league. Since she has had legal counsel before filing the suit that must have some significance.
3) "Migliaccio's throw soared above the pitcher's glove and somehow escaped from the fenced-in bullpen at the Little League facility", here a pic of the bullpen would be crucial. If its a low fence then it really should be the owner of the fence/bullpen that should be the target of the suit, if so it should be thrown out. But if it is a really high fence then it could collaborate her story that "the young catcher's throw was intentionally offline".
4) But how would you know it's intentionally offline? If you are watching the kids that closely then you should be able to duck a ball going over a fence.
5) " Lloyd's husband has also filed suit", this sounds crazy. Why would he do that. This makes it sound like grumpy people seeking to blame someone else for their misfortune.
So there must be info left out in the article as usual. Which means that we shouldn't judge any party before that info comes out.
Spoonist wrote:4) But how would you know it's intentionally offline? If you are watching the kids that closely then you should be able to duck a ball going over a fence.
That can be explained by her talking to a witness after the injury. Or her/her lawyer just making stuff up.
The rest of your questions I can't see any easy answers to.
So there must be info left out in the article as usual. Which means that we shouldn't judge any party before that info comes out.
Yes, there is something fishy going on here. But that just means that, if other information becomes public, I'll have to change my position. Until it does, I can only decide on based on what I know from the article.
Spoonist wrote:
1) She is filing it 1-2 years after the fact. Why? Did she think some insurance would cover it and then it didn't?
So there must be info left out in the article as usual. Which means that we shouldn't judge any party before that info comes out.
It can take a while for long-term damage to become apparent, especially with head and neck injuries. There are plenty of legitimate reasons that it might take months or years before someone files suit.
"Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them. Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth." M.A.A.A
She was sitting 5 feet away from the bullpen according to the Forbes article posted by General Zod and was watching her son play. Seems the implied risk thing mentioned earlier applies
mr friendly guy wrote:One of my bosses told a story which was in turn told by someone else... but essentially when this colleague was a teenager in a skiing trip overseas he accidentally injured a hot shot lawyer in a skiing accident. I think he did break a rule and he accidentally gave his name. Eventually police showed up at his parent's place in Scotland serving papers. Fortunately the insurance covered it, otherwise they might have to sell the house. But there you go. You can be sued for an accident.
This story sounds unlikely because the police wouldn't be serving papers for a civil suit.
According to the linked article from Zod, it looks like she is desperate rather than greedy, given that "attempts to reach a settlement with insurance companies failed."
Also the high costs appear to be related reconstructive surgery because she suffered several facial fractures.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
multiple facial fractures from a ball hit by a 11 yo?
Isn't that level of force a bit out of scale for his age? Or is that guy destined to become a Space Marine (i.e. he is big and strong as a normal human NOW, from pics does not seem to be the case)?
2) She is suing the boy, not the park or the league. Since she has had legal counsel before filing the suit that must have some significance.
League said their insurance does not cover it "Steve Barr, a spokesman for Little League, declined to comment on the litigation. He said each local league is required to have accident insurance, but that only covers personnel.
"That includes coaches, players, even concession stand workers. But it does not cover spectators," Barr said." from here
I'm nobody. Nobody at all. But the secrets of the universe don't mind. They reveal themselves to nobodies who care. -- Stereotypical spacecraft are pressurized. Less realistic spacecraft are pressurized to hold breathing atmosphere. Realistic spacecraft are pressurized because they are flying propellant tanks. -Isaac Kuo -- Good art has function as well as form. I hesitate to spend more than $50 on decorations of any kind unless they can be used to pummel an intruder into submission. -Sriad
someone_else wrote:multiple facial fractures from a ball hit by a 11 yo?
Isn't that level of force a bit out of scale for his age? Or is that guy destined to become a Space Marine (i.e. he is big and strong as a normal human NOW, from pics does not seem to be the case)?
Did you miss the part where she's 45 years old?
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
General Zod wrote:Did you miss the part where she's 45 years old?
He obviously missed the part that 45 years old = frail methusalem. Like most of us, I guess.
I mean, yes, osteoporosis might set in quickly after menopause, but for her to be so frail that a ball thrown like 60 feet from a 11y/o (pitch to batter is 45 feet for little league) would fracture multiple bones is unlikely. She might have been knocked over and fell unlucky, but her age simply can't be the decisive factor in how she accrued the injuries.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
General Zod wrote:Did you miss the part where she's 45 years old?
He obviously missed the part that 45 years old = frail methusalem. Like most of us, I guess.
I mean, yes, osteoporosis might set in quickly after menopause, but for her to be so frail that a ball thrown like 60 feet from a 11y/o (pitch to batter is 45 feet for little league) would fracture multiple bones is unlikely. She might have been knocked over and fell unlucky, but her age simply can't be the decisive factor in how she accrued the injuries.
Unless she and her doctor are both conspiring to lie about it multiple fractures necessitating reconstructive surgery aren't really something you can fake.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
describes it the best.
