A very visible entity that has thousands upon thousands of fans show up at Truist Park for every single game, the Atlanta Braves are always going to be a target of lawsuits. Most of them are frivolous and don’t go anywhere while others get settled, as was the case when a child was hit by a foul ball, as the cost of doing business with live sports. However, a recent court decision could test the limits for how much a team can be held responsible for what happens in their ballparks.
During the 2021 World Series, eventual World Series MVP Jorge Soler threw a ball into the stands. Normally a completely innocuous (and very often welcome) gesture, Soler’s throw apparently was not on target and hit a woman in the face. The woman suffered multiple injuries, claimed that she was disfigured, and sued both Soler and the Braves over the incident. Once a lower court dismissed the case after being convinced by the Braves’ argument that fans assume responsibility for their own safety when they attend games, most thought that was the end of it.
However, a Georgia appeals court just overturned that dismissal and now the lawsuit can proceed which is going to raise some really intriguing questions as to exactly who is liable in these situations.
Appeals court decision overturning dismissal in Braves lawsuit sets stage for ugly legal battle
At the heart of the appeals court’s decision is a fairly simply idea. According to the decision made on September 12, the court asserted that “there is nothing in the complaint to indicate that the Plaintiffs understood and appreciated the risk of a baseball being thrown in Mayra’s immediate direction when the game was not in play and that they voluntarily exposed themselves to this risk.”
This is certainly a sticky situation and now that the lawsuit is set to continue, the Braves (and probably Soler) will almost certainly try hard to settle this case before it makes it back to a court room. This isn’t a situation where a fan was hit by a foul ball during the normal course of a game. This was a throw into the stands in-between innings when it would be kind of understandable that someone wouldn’t expect a ball to be heading their way.
There are going to be those that think that husband and wife are just milking the situation for a pay day and that could theoretically be the case. However, it does seem like this woman was pretty badly hurt. Given that the Braves tend to settle lawsuits whenever possible, Atlanta is probably working hard behind the scenes to permanently put this situation behind them unless there are details that we aren’t aware of.
