A ruling was made yesterday that may set a precedent for future lawsuits against careless mascot behavior. Let's review the background of the case:
Anyway, long story short, the jury in the case sided with the Kansas City Royals, as they ruled yesterday that the team will not have to pay damages to Coomer. Apparently the Royals were successfully able to argue that Coomer should have been paying attention to Sluggerrr while he was performing his routine in order to take adequate precautions. Since Coomer claimed to have attended 175 Royals games, he could not claim that he was unfamiliar with Sluggerrr's routine and therefore unprepared to get accidentally hit with a hot dog.
No word if this protects the individuals in the mascot suits, such as Byron Shores in this case. However, it would appear that the professional sports teams themselves, or the colleges and universities who have the mascots at their games, are off the hook. So it looks like Vanderbilt won't have to worry about that fan who got the bloody nose while "Mr. C" was crowd surfing, and Old Dominion won't have to worry about VCU's Ed Nixon suing for slipping on the court after "Big Blue" threw baby powder all over it.
And, of course, Sluggerrr has free reign to toss (or shoot) those hot dogs around at will. Royals fans, watch out!
Inherit the mascot: KC Royals mascot, Sluggerrr, on trial today for hot dog assault [NBCSports]
Judge: Royals not at fault for fan mishap [FOXSports]
During a game in Sept. of 2009, John Coomer, a [Kansas City] Royals fan, was struck in the face with a hot dog hurled by Sluggerrr, the Royals’ mascot. Sluggerrr had been firing weiners into the crowd with the cannon ...but then began tossing them manually.See Youtube video of his regular routine during Royals games, which takes place in various parts of the stadium. No, I did not forget to use spellcheck. The Royals mascot does have 3 Rs at the end of his name, but that's beside the point. It's when he started tossing the hot dogs by hand that things apparently got, pardon the pun, out of hand:
Coomer says Slugger tried to throw a hot dog behind his back. Instead of sailing out of Slugger’s hand, the suit says, “Slugger lost control of his throw, or was reckless with his throw, and threw the hot dog directly into him”. Coomer claims he was sitting just a few feet from Slugger when he was hit in his left eye by the hot dog.
The suit [against the KC Royals] said Coomer suffered a detatched retina and developed a cataract in the injured eye, and that he expects to have future medical expenses because of the injury. Coomer's suit cited negligence and battery, and asked for more than $25,000 in damages.Unfortunately there is no video of this particular incident (that we know of, anyway). As for the defense:
The Royals argued Coomer, who was seeking $25,000 in damages, should have taken more responsibility for his own protection at the game in September 2009.
Byron Shores, the man inside the Sluggerrr suit between February 1996 and October 2009, told the court Wednesday that he had no recollection of the incident and was only made aware of the accusation against him when he was dismissed by the Royals, although the club said he was dismissed for something unrelated.Seems like an interesting coincidence how Shores was dismissed shortly after the incident occurred, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway, long story short, the jury in the case sided with the Kansas City Royals, as they ruled yesterday that the team will not have to pay damages to Coomer. Apparently the Royals were successfully able to argue that Coomer should have been paying attention to Sluggerrr while he was performing his routine in order to take adequate precautions. Since Coomer claimed to have attended 175 Royals games, he could not claim that he was unfamiliar with Sluggerrr's routine and therefore unprepared to get accidentally hit with a hot dog.
No word if this protects the individuals in the mascot suits, such as Byron Shores in this case. However, it would appear that the professional sports teams themselves, or the colleges and universities who have the mascots at their games, are off the hook. So it looks like Vanderbilt won't have to worry about that fan who got the bloody nose while "Mr. C" was crowd surfing, and Old Dominion won't have to worry about VCU's Ed Nixon suing for slipping on the court after "Big Blue" threw baby powder all over it.
And, of course, Sluggerrr has free reign to toss (or shoot) those hot dogs around at will. Royals fans, watch out!
Inherit the mascot: KC Royals mascot, Sluggerrr, on trial today for hot dog assault [NBCSports]
Judge: Royals not at fault for fan mishap [FOXSports]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
