Whenever you participate in a sport, you assume quite a bit of risk regarding injury. There is no way to ensure that every tackle in football, hit-by-the-pitch in baseball, or foul in basketball will result in minor pain. At the same time, not all injuries are covered by the assumption of risk doctrine. The Baseball Players Association knows that all too well.
In May if 2010, it did not take jurors more than an hour to award plaintiff baseball player $52,703. The Baseball Players Association had to pay that amount to the plaintiff because of the plaintiff’s injury in one of the Association’s tournament games.
The plaintiff, who was 17-years-old at the time of the injury, fractured his throwing arm while making a pitch from the mound. He alleged that the Association was negligent by failing to properly maintain the pitcher’s mound, which apparently was too big and deep.
The award was determined based on the two-year scholarship to Delaware Tech that the plaintiff could not accept based on the injury. The Association claimed that there was no proof of a scholarship offer, but that did not prevent the jury from returning the large verdict for the plaintiff.
The decision was handed down in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
h/t to Ron Miller of Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog for informing me of the lawsuit.