Article Launched: 04/21/2006 01:00:00 AM MDT
Lawsuit against umpire back in play
By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Staff Writer
As a 10-year-old, Austin Wright was hit by a flying baseball bat as he stood in the on-deck circle waiting to bat.
The bat shattered five of his permanent teeth and cut his upper lip.
Years later in 2004, when he became an adult, Wright filed a lawsuit against the umpire who tossed the bat at the May 1995 game of the Jefferson County Junior Baseball League.
The league said the umpire tossed the bat so a player running from third to home wouldn't trip over it.
The league said neither it nor the umpire had any liability because Wright's father had signed a waiver releasing the league from any claims of negligence or injury to his son.
Jefferson County District Judge Margie Enquist agreed and dismissed the lawsuit before it went to trial.
But the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Enquist on Thursday and said the case should proceed to trial.
Appellate Judge Daniel Taubman said Colorado law specifically says that such waivers don't exempt those who act in grossly negligent or willful or wanton ways.
Taubman wrote that there were any number of ways the ump - who in the lawsuit is known as John Doe and is now the only defendant - could have acted in a willful and wanton manner.
"If a base runner had been approaching home plate, Doe's conduct may have been negligent because he might have simply thrown the bat in a manner that a reasonably careful person under the same pressure to prevent an injury would not have done," Taubman said.
The ump's conduct also may have been willful and wanton, if on seeing the runner, he grabbed the bat and consciously decided to throw it into the on-deck circle without regard to whether he'd injure someone, the opinion said.
Tony Leffert, the lawyer defending the umpire, said umpires throw bats out of the way all the time.
"I will tell you that I've probably seen umpires pick up a bat and throw it out of the base path at least 100 times. It happens at least once every game, if not more. It is a common occurrence," Leffert said.
"This umpire is someone who arguably got paid, but they are paid a minimum value to umpire games for kids. To make an allegation and to pursue a claim that the umpire intentionally is throwing a bat at kids and hitting them (is) frankly ... outrageous," he said.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or
[email protected].