Atlanta Nat'l League Baseball Club Inc. v. F. F. Individually

The trial court properly denied the Atlanta Braves' motion for declaratory judgment in a negligence lawsuit arising after a child was injured by a foul ball.

Thank you for sharing!

Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

On August 30, 2010, plaintiff M. F., a six-year-old girl, was sitting with her father behind the visitors’ dugout at a home game of appellant Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc., known as the Atlanta Braves, when she was struck by a foul ball, suffering a skull fracture and brain injuries. M. F.’s parent and guardian brought this action for negligence against the Braves and three other defendants.1 After the trial court denied the Braves’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim or for summary judgment, the Braves moved for a certificate of immediate review, which the trial court also denied, with the result that the Braves were unable to pursue an appeal. The Braves then moved for a declaratory judgment as to the applicable standard of care. The trial court denied this motion but granted a certificate of immediate review as to it. Having granted the Braves’s application for interlocutory review of the trial court’s denial of their motion for declaratory judgment, we find that such relief is not appropriate at this stage of the proceedings. We therefore affirm.

The relevant facts are not in dispute. At some point before the 2010 season, the Braves added netting to portions of both dugouts to protect players from balls leaving the field of play. At the game held at Turner Field on August 30, 2010, safety netting behind home plate protected 2,791 of the stadium’s 49,856 seats, but did not extend to the seats directly behind the dugouts on either side of the field. 488 protected seats, including 53 groups of four or more seats, remained unsold. Attendance at the game was 18,842. Although a Braves representative testified that M. F. and her family would have been free to move to unsold protected seats behind home plate by notifying an usher, the same representative testified that a surcharge would apply to seats purchased in this way. In the fifth inning, M. F. and her parents, who had received their tickets as a gift, were sitting a few rows behind the visitor’s dugout when a player hit the foul ball that struck M. F.

Atlanta Nat'l League Baseball Club Inc. v. F. F. Individually

The trial court properly denied the Atlanta Braves' motion for declaratory judgment in a negligence lawsuit arising after a child was injured by a foul ball.

Share with Email

Thank you for sharing!

Trending Stories

More From ALM

Subscribe to Daily Report