NJ woman hit with ball sues Little League player

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Grand Master

Hum

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MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face with a baseball at a Little League game is suing the young catcher who threw it.

Elizabeth Lloyd is seeking more than $150,000 in damages to cover medical costs stemming from the incident at a Manchester Little League game two years ago. She's also seeking an undefined amount for pain and suffering.

Lloyd was sitting at a picnic table near a fenced-in bullpen when she was hit with the ball.

Catcher Matthew Migliaccio was 11 years old at the time and was warming up a pitcher.

The lawsuit filed April 24 alleges Migliaccio's errant throw was intentional and reckless, "assaulted and battered" Lloyd and caused "severe, painful and permanent" injuries.

A second count alleges Migliaccio's actions were negligent and careless through "engaging in inappropriate physical and/or sporting activity" near Lloyd. She continues to suffer pain and anguish, incur medical expenses and has been unable to carry out her usual duties and activities, the lawsuit says.

And Lloyd's husband, in a third count, is suing for the loss of "services, society and consortium" of his wife. They've demanded a jury trial.

Anthony Pagano, a lawyer for the Migliaccios, said the lawsuit is frivolous and without merit.

"I just think that it's disgusting that you have people suing an 11-year-old kid for overthrowing his pitcher in the bullpen," Pagano said. "It's horrible this can actually happen and get this far. Ultimately, hopefully, justice will prevail."

The count alleging negligence and carelessness is covered by homeowner's insurance, Pagano said, but the other counts are not. Little League has denied any coverage.

Steve Barr, a spokesman for Little League, declined to comment on the litigation. He said each local league is required to have accident insurance, but that only covers personnel.

"That includes coaches, players, even concession stand workers. But it does not cover spectators,"Barr said.

Matthew's father, Bob Migliaccio, said they were concerned for Lloyd when it happened. Then his son started receiving threatening and nasty letters, he said, and he started getting angry.

"The whole thing has almost been surreal," Migliaccio said. "We keep thinking it's just going to go away, and then a week and a half ago a sheriff shows up at my door to serve my son the papers."

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Grand Master

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That's unfortunate.. I don't know what to think. I mean, obviously it was an accident, these things happen, he's just a kid. But that's a lot of money in medical costs too, if it's all legit, which somehow I doubt.

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Grand Master

Astra.Xtreme

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You have to be kidding me... $150k in medical expenses from a baseball thrown by an 11 year old?

Being that it was thrown by a catcher, the ball was probably traveling ~10mph on the decline of its trajectory. I have my doubts that it would even break somebody's nose.

Hopefully they hire some reconstructive engineers and prove that she is full of crap. And then throw all the legal bills on her lap.

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Grand Master

jerzdawg

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How does someone rack up $150k in medical bills? Do they have no insurance coverage at all? Someone is certainly looking for a payday, I'd love to know what kind of damage was done by a baseball thrown by an 11 year old.

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Grand Master

SirEvan

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How does someone rack up $150k in medical bills?

150K is rather ungodly for any possible injury she might have received, but I can see how it might get up close to that amount. Back when I was 17 or so, I got into an accident. While it was a low speed impact, I was taken to the hospital to make sure everything was ok. The cost of the ambulance was over 3500$ to go 10-15 miles to the hospital. Once at the hospital, I was stuck in a room for over 3 hours. That cost was over 5000$. They wanted to order x-rays and do some other tests to make sure my neck was ok, but when told that it could take another hour or two, I declined, as I had been strapped to a stretcher for over 3 hours already and was in a lot of discomfort already. That alone was almost 10,000$. 150K is rather ridiculous, but depending on how many "tests" were ordered, i could easily see it costing 20-30K. 150K is ridiculous...at that rate I'd expect to see heart transplants, brain surgery, chemo, reconstructive surgery, and maybe a private jet to fly her to a specialist center across the country..

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Grand Master

I am Reid

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When I played little league we'd throw / hit the balls at the parents who had jerk kids on the other team. :laugh:

used to do the same thing at basketball games to the moms that would "taunt" us, of course a basketball doesnt hurt as much, but it was much easier to do multiple times because of how close to the court they are.

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jerzdawg

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exactly, my dad has been a part of Little League in my hometown for almost 20 years and he has seen his fair share of accidents on the field. (ex. pitcher getting hit square in the face from a line drive) After all medical costs and a few stiches later (ambulance ride included) the costs did not exceed $10k. If the woman was asking for a REASONABLE amount to cover her out of pocket expenses then I dont have an issue with her going to court to try and recover it. But when you start looking for "pain and suffering" from suing an 11 year old... I hope the whole thing gets thrown out. Most Little League fields have warning signs to prevent lawsuits like this.

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Rippleman

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sue for medical costs sure, and a bit more for inconveince, but nothing more. in the end, she shouldn't have to pay for something that wasn't her fault. and they way kids are now a days, it wouldn't surprise me if it was in fact intentional.

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FloatingFatMan

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Wait.. wait wait wait...

"Then his son started receiving threatening and nasty letters, he said, and he started getting angry."

Excellent! Assuming they kept them, that's the lawsuit thrown out there and then and quite possibly the complainants prosecuted for threatening a minor! :D

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remixedcat

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hell someone threw a freaking book at me at high school and it hit me in the cheek really hard... and they were less then 8 feet away from me and hit me full force.... did it hurt? nope.... I just LOLed and threw the book back at him! did I baw about it to mommy and have the school sued? nope. I told her what happened and LOled and mom told me... "good! I would have done the same too, and next time hit em harder!" LOL.... I don't baww about stuff like that....

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rfirth

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They've demanded a jury trial.

As if a jury would rule against an 11 year old... they should throw out the case and force this woman to pay all court and lawyer costs.

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Ryoken

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I think people that lose these types of nonsense lawsuits should get a year in jail if they fail. Or be shot.. Both would make people stop suing over stupid crap..

$150k.. What do you want to bet she got a broken nose and then decided to get a nose job..

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Grand Master

theyarecomingforyou

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There's a very easy way to stop this sort of ridiculous litigation and that is to limit all claims to medical costs, with any punitive damages being awarded to charities rather than individuals. Currently people see it as a way to get free/easy money but everybody pays through higher insurance costs, unnecessary health and safety restrictions and fear of litigation. When people are sued for providing life-saving medical treatment in cases where there are inadvertent adverse consequences (e.g. a broken rib when being given the Heimlich manoeuvre) the US litigation culture will end up killing people, if it hasn't already.

Nobody wants to get hit in the face with an errant ball but that's life. If it was malicious then that's what the criminal justice system is there for. If it was an accident and there were no medical costs involved then accept it and move on; I'm sure the kid would have apologised. Only if there were medical costs should there be an need to involve the legal system and even then it wouldn't be an issue if the US actually had a decent healthcare system. This woman and her husband should be castigated by society.

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chillipig

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MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face with a baseball at a Little League game is suing the young catcher who threw it.

Elizabeth Lloyd is seeking more than $150,000 in damages to cover medical costs stemming from the incident at a Manchester Little League game two years ago. She's also seeking an undefined amount for pain and suffering.

Lloyd was sitting at a picnic table near a fenced-in bullpen when she was hit with the ball.

Catcher Matthew Migliaccio was 11 years old at the time and was warming up a pitcher.

The lawsuit filed April 24 alleges Migliaccio's errant throw was intentional and reckless, "assaulted and battered" Lloyd and caused "severe, painful and permanent" injuries.

A second count alleges Migliaccio's actions were negligent and careless through "engaging in inappropriate physical and/or sporting activity" near Lloyd. She continues to suffer pain and anguish, incur medical expenses and has been unable to carry out her usual duties and activities, the lawsuit says.

And Lloyd's husband, in a third count, is suing for the loss of "services, society and consortium" of his wife. They've demanded a jury trial.

Anthony Pagano, a lawyer for the Migliaccios, said the lawsuit is frivolous and without merit.

"I just think that it's disgusting that you have people suing an 11-year-old kid for overthrowing his pitcher in the bullpen," Pagano said. "It's horrible this can actually happen and get this far. Ultimately, hopefully, justice will prevail."

The count alleging negligence and carelessness is covered by homeowner's insurance, Pagano said, but the other counts are not. Little League has denied any coverage.

Steve Barr, a spokesman for Little League, declined to comment on the litigation. He said each local league is required to have accident insurance, but that only covers personnel.

"That includes coaches, players, even concession stand workers. But it does not cover spectators,"Barr said.

Matthew's father, Bob Migliaccio, said they were concerned for Lloyd when it happened. Then his son started receiving threatening and nasty letters, he said, and he started getting angry.

"The whole thing has almost been surreal," Migliaccio said. "We keep thinking it's just going to go away, and then a week and a half ago a sheriff shows up at my door to serve my son the papers."

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Very Occasionally I glance at an article and think OH B*LLOCKS! This is one of them because it marks further decent into the hellish society of compensation culture and is truly a new lower level.

Given a few years this is what we British will be doing as all we ever seem to follow is poisonous American society, Why couldn't we have had language in common with the Dutch instead FFS?

This will be yet another blow to our society worthy of mention along with the evils of Milton Friedman.

Better post this now as no doubt Mr "No Morals" Cameron is already drawing up laws to deport us to Guantanamo for having any F*CKING opinion! F*CK YOU OBAMA!!!

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