Baseball and Workers' Compensation

Despite rigorous training and safeguards getting injured is to be expected due to the unpredictable nature of the game

Sarasota, FL (CompNewsNetwork) - Baseball is the great American pastime and its players are often idolized by their legions of fans. But even the highest paid players are still made of flesh and bones. Professional baseball players are entitled to worker's compensation benefits in the event of an injury which may disable them temporarily or permanently. Their unpaid salary is payable for the duration of the year when the injury occurred, minus all workers’ compensation payments received by the player if the club is compensating him in full. Should the club terminate the player due to the injuries, benefits may be payble afterwards as well.

Workers compensation laws also apply to baseball teams which are not part of the major leagues but which are professional clubs. Despite rigorous training and safeguards getting injured is to be expected due to the unpredictable nature of the game. The most common injuries are shoulder, arm, wrist and knee injuries. Head injuries can be potentially very serious. Baseball players wear special head gear when batting, catching or calling balls and strikes behind home plate. Still they are not always fully protected. A wild pitch or foul ball can knock a batter or umpire unconscious.

And let's not forget the baseball fan sitting in the stands who gets unexpectedly hit by a wicked foul ball. Is he entitled to any compensation from the club?

We dug out the archives of WorkCompResearch case law and found some interesting baseball cases to pitch to you!

Jane Costa v. Boston Red Sox, (2003), Superior Court Of Massachusetts, No. 02-P-1433.
On a September evening in 1998, Jane Costa and three companions attended a Boston Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park. They arrived late, at the top of the fifth inning. The plaintiff took her seat in an unscreened area in the upper box section on the first base line, more or less behind the Red Sox dugout. Several players from the visiting team, the Detroit Tigers, batted before their side was retired. In the bottom of the fifth, the first batter for the Red Sox was Darren Lewis. On a count of one ball and two strikes, Lewis hit a line drive foul ball into the stands along the first base line. The ball struck the plaintiff in the face, causing severe, permanent injuries. She had been in the ballpark no more than ten minutes when she was hurt. The consensus of tort law is that baseball stadium owners should not be held responsible for injuries to spectators that result from balls leaving the field during play -- at least if adequate safety screening has been provided to protect areas of the stadium in the vicinity of home plate, where the danger is thought to be most acute. The doctrine of assumption of risk relieves the baseball ball park owners and baseball club of any liability. As a consequence, injured fans like the plaintiff are left to bear the costs of their injuries, even though they played no role in causing them except by choosing to attend the game. A disclaimer printed on the back of a baseball game ticket reads, in relevant part: "The holder assumes all risk and danger incidental to the game of baseball including specifically (but not exclusively) the danger of being injured by thrown [bats and thrown or batted balls and agrees that the participating clubs, their agents and players are not liable for injuries resulting from such causes."

Douglas K. Brocail v. Detroit Tigers, (2008) The Fourteenth Court of Appeals, Texas, No. 14-06-00557-CV.
Douglas Brocail is a professional relief pitcher and a union member of the Major League Baseball Players Association. On June 14, 2000 in Detroit, Michigan, Brocail began to complain of pain and inflammation in his right elbow. A follow-up injury report contained the notation that an x-ray performed the same day revealed spurring and new bone formation at the medial epicondyle. At the beginning of September 2000, he was removed from the disabled list. After he practiced pitching on September 6 or 7, 2000, he was again restricted from throwing, and additional tests were performed. After arthroscopic surgery on September 22, of 2000, he was removed from the disabled list . On or about December 11, 2000, the Detroit Tigers traded Brocail to the Houston Astros. On April 4, 2001, Brocail heard a loud pop in his right elbow while pitching in Texas. He was diagnosed with a full tear of the medial collateral ligament and a partial tear of the flexor tendon. He subsequently had surgery in Houston to reconstruct the medial collateral ligament. Due to the long recovery time from the surgery, Brocail did not continue to pitch for the Astros. The Astros paid Brocail's 2001 salary, but when his contract expired at the end of that season, it was not renewed. Brocail was not paid a salary for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. According to Brocail, he returned to pitching for the Texas Rangers in 2004. On September 20, 2002, Brocail sued his Michigan and Texas health care providers. In addition, he sued the Tigers for negligence, fraud, fraudulent concealment, fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation, gross negligence, and breach of contract. According to Brocail, the Tigers encouraged and/or directed him to seek treatment from team personnel that did not possess the expertise, skill, training, experience, ability, competence and/or knowledge to properly diagnose and treat an elbow injury sustained by a major league baseball pitcher. The Michigan trial court ruled Brocail had no right to the recovery of weekly compensation benefits and any exclusive remedy provision did not apply. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Detroit Tigers. Brocail subsequently filed a petition for review in November, 2008

Eric D. Cavers v. The Houston Astros, Maine Supreme Judicial Court (2008), 2008 ME 164.
Cavers began to play with the Astros’ rookie league team in Greenville, Tennessee, as a catcher. On June 27, 2004, he injured his shoulder during a game when throwing a ball to second base. He traveled to Houston where the team doctor told him he had a strained shoulder and recommended conservative treatment and limited activity. As the 2005 season approached, Cavers continued to experience pain. He sought a second opinion from a doctor in Boston, who diagnosed him with a torn labrum, and advised him to undergo arthroscopic surgery. Against the Astros’ doctor’s advice, Cavers underwent the surgery in March 2005. After a period of recuperation in Maine, Cavers was sent to Florida for rehabilitation. His condition improved, and the Astros assigned him to a team in Troy, New York.

When the 2006 season ended, the Astros released Cavers from his contract. Cavers played for another team in Illinois for a short period, then returned to Maine. He has not played professional baseball since, and is working as a carpenter in Maine. Cavers has received some medical care for his shoulder in Maine. Cavers filed a petition for award of workers’ compensation benefits and for payment of medical and related services in Maine. Before the Workers’ Compensation Board, the Astros moved to dismiss the claim, asserting that Maine lacks personal and subject matter jurisdiction. The hearing officer found that Cavers was a resident of Maine at the time of the injury, and thus, the Board had subject matter jurisdiction over the claim. The hearing officer also determined that the Board had personal jurisdiction over the Astros. The hearing officer determined that Cavers was entitled to the protection of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Act for the 2004 shoulder injury, but awarded no wage replacement benefits. The petition for payment of medical bills was granted. The Astros filed a petition for additional findings of fact and conclusions of law, which the hearing officer denied.

J. Douglas Strange v. Pittsburgh Pirates, (2002), Commonweath Court Of Pennsylvania, No. 1328 C.D. 2002.
Strange was hired by the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club as a utility infielder in November of 1997 under a two-year contract at a salary of $550,000.00 per year. He sustained an injury to his right elbow on April 1, 1999 that resulted in disability commencing on October 1, 1999. The parties entered into an agreement by which Strange would be paid benefits at the maximum rate allowable in 1999, $588 per week, based on an average weekly wage of $9,615.38. The agreement specifically reserved to Strange the right to challenge the constitutionality of Section 308.1(e) of the Act, which defines "wages of the injured employee" in Section 306(b) of the Act for the purpose of computing partial disability benefits for certain highly paid professional athletes, and only that small group, as two times the statewide weekly average wage.

Bradford Campeau-Laurion v. New York Yankees, (2009), U.S. District Court, Southern District of N.Y., No. 09 CV 3790.
Bradford Campeau-Laurion had named the Yankees and New York City in his federal lawsuit, which argued that he was a victim of political and religious discrimination and that his rights were violated at an August 2008 game against the Boston Red Sox. He was kicked out of Yankee Stadium by a police officer because he left his seat to use the bathroom during the playing of "God Bless America." The 29-year-old says two officers pinned both of his arms behind his back and ejected him from the stadium. "He shoved me out the front gate and told me get out of their country if I didn't like it," he said. Campeau-Laurion says he didn't know theYankees had a rule restricting movement in the stands during the playing of God Bless America. The rule is enforced by ushers, stadium security and the NYPD. Ushers used handheld chains to block off some exits while it was played at the Yankees' old stadium, although chief operating officer Lonn Trost has said they were instructed to let through spectators with emergencies. The practice was inspired by complaints of fans who were upset that spectators were not respectful enough during the playing of "God Bless America." The City of New York awarded Bradford Campeau-Laurion the sum of Ten Thousand and One Dollars ($10,001), The City of New York also paid his attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of Twelve Thousand Dollars ($12,000), as agreed by the parties to be reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs as provided in the Rule 68 offer. The amount of the attorneys’ fees and costs were paid to the plaintiff’s attorneys, the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

Enough with the arguments. It's World Series time! The last time the Yankees and Phillies played each other in the World Series was in 1950. Yankees won 4-0. Will the Phillies make it two titles in a row? Will A-Rod become the new sultan of swat? Will the best team win? Only the umpires know for sure!