A child, whose family alleged he suffered devastating injuries due to the type of bat used in a baseball game, has been awarded 14.5 million dollars in compensation for childrens sport injury in an out of court settlement.
Steven Domalewski was twelve years of age when his tragic accident happened. Playing as a pitcher in a Police Athletic League baseball game in 2006, the player to who Steven pitched the ball hit it back with such force that it caused Steven to suffer a cardiac arrest when it hit him on the chest.
Despite the attentions of parents and officials, it was almost twenty minutes before Steven regained consciousness – during which time his brain was starved of oxygen, resulting in him sustaining permanent and irreversible brain damage.
Steven´s family made a claim for childrens sports injury compensation, based on the grounds that the baseball bat that was used was in the game was made of metal and, because of the additional power it provided in relation to wooden bats, should not have been used in a children´s game of baseball.
Liability was denied by Little League Baseball who sanctioned the bat as safe to use, Hillerich and Bradsby – the manufacturers of the “Louisville Slugger” metal baseball bat – and the national retailer of the bat, The Sports Authority.
However, solicitors acting on behalf of the Domalewski family argued that – in 2008 – Little League Baseball limited the performance of metal bats used in children´s games of baseball to the same as that of wooden bats, with an eighty percent reduction in injuries to pitchers.
A trial date was set but, as opening statements were about to be heard, the State Superior Court in Passaic County heard that an agreement of compensation for childrens sport injury had been negotiated between the parties and that Steven was to receive 14.5 million dollars to provide him with the care that he will need for the rest of his life.