I imagine it went down like this: One night over drinks, a couple lawyers got together and started one-upping one another with crazy boasts. At the end of the night, one of them said, “Dude, I could sue Louisville Slugger for making baseball bats. And win!”

The other lawyer thought this was ludicrous and bet him that he couldn’t. Well, the other lawyer lost that bet. WAVE 3 TV in Louisville reports that a Montana jury has found that Louisville Slugger batmakers Hillerich and Bradsby should have put warning labels on its aluminum bats, and must pay $850,000 to the family of 18-year-old player Brandon Patch, who was killed by a line drive in a 2003 American Legion game.

The story says:

The Patch family argued aluminum bats are dangerous because they cause the ball to travel faster than those hit off wooden bats. They said Brandon did not have enough time to react after the ball was hit.

Although the jury did award the Patch family money saying that H&B failed to place warning labels on the aluminum bats, they also said the bat was not defective.

I guess the jury believes that had warning labels been placed on the bats, Patch would have read the label, refused to play and be alive today.

Montana jury finds H&B at fault in baseball bat lawsuit [WAVE 3 TV (Louisville)]
(Photo: Flying Photog)
(Thanks, Brenndan!)

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