Montana: Louisville Slugger maker appeals aluminum bat case
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats is appealing a jury’s verdict that found the company liable for the 2003 death of a baseball player who was struck in the temple by a batted ball during a game in Helena.
Kyle Gray, an attorney for Louisville Slugger’s parent company, Hillerich & Bradsby, argued the case before the Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday. The company says motions were wrongly denied in the case and the bat maker is entitled to a judgment or a new trial.
The parents of Brandon Patch, a former Miles City American Legion baseball pitcher, sued the company in 2006. They said an “unreasonably dangerous” metal bat caused his death and Louisville Slugger failed to warn the user of the dangers.
Gray argued Wednesday that Patch was not using the aluminum bat when he was struck.
“We’re talking about a bystander warning,” he said, adding that if the high court were to deem Patch the user of the bat, then the case would have to be remanded and retried.
But Curt Drake, an attorney representing the Patch family, told the justices Wednesday the bat maker needs to warn those within “the zone of danger.” The user needs to be cautioned as well as those who may be in harm’s way, he said.
The Independent Record reports the high court has not ruled on the case.
In October 2009, a jury sided with the Patches and awarded them $850,000. The jury said the bat was not defective in design, but the ordinary user was not properly warned of its dangers.
Hillerich & Bradsby was ordered to pay $792,000 to Patch’s estate. Those funds were to cover the lost earnings of Patch had he lived and the pain the 18-year-old suffered from the injury before he died about four hours after being struck by the ball.
The family also was awarded $58,000 in damages and for their pain and suffering.
California: Victim’s family files civil suit in Santos killing
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The parents of a San Diego college student who was fatally stabbed in 2008 have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the four young men who pleaded guilty in the case, including the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
The lawsuit was filed in September and announced on Wednesday. It seeks unspecified damages.
Prosecutors say Esteban Nunez, Ryan Jett, Rafael Garcia and Leshanor Thomas were angry after being refused entry to a fraternity party when they crossed paths with Luis Santos.
Esteban Nunez and Jett pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon. Garcia and Thomas pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
The suit is separate from that filed by the Santos family against former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reduced Esteban Nunez’s sentence from 16 years to 7 years.
California: Ex caregiver alleges abuse at Hawthorne facility
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former employee filed suit against an adult care facility in Hawthorne, alleging he was fired for complaining of understaffing, patient abuse and poor record-keeping at the facility.
An attorney for Anthony Beasley filed the lawsuit Monday against Ideal Home Care, which cares for developmentally and physically disabled adults.
According to the complaint, Beasley began working at the facility in May 2008.
Beasley, who is black, claimed supervisors at the facility made racist remarks, denied overtime pay, and retaliated against him when he made entries in the staff log about a male patient who “had a propensity to sexually assault other patients.” He said he was fired after that patient escaped, then was found hours later, during his shift.
A call seeking comment from the home was not immediately returned.
Beasley claims that one patient, called “Michael” in the lawsuit, sexually assaulted other patients, both male and female, including one who was paralyzed by a stroke and couldn’t protect himself.
Staff were told to monitor Michael and make sure that he didn’t hurt anyone, but they weren’t allowed to lock him in either, even when the facility was understaffed, the case alleges.
Beasley made entries into the log explaining the patient’s inappropriate behaviors and how they were made worse by staffing problems, but the logs were altered or deleted, he said.
Beasley also claims he was forced to work 14 hour shifts without overtime, and that staff who didn’t speak English dispensed the wrong medications to the wrong patients.
Separately, Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives are investigating more than 100 hours of graphic videos delivered to the sheriff’s department last year depicting men sexually assaulting physically and mentally disabled women, some of them in diapers. Detectives believe the assaults occurred in 2007 or earlier, at a Los Angeles residential care facility.
