Pa. woman sues Phila. Phillies and Phillie Phanatic mascot over pool-tossing incident

A woman from Montgomery County who claims she sustained various injuries after the

baseball mascot the Phillie Phanatic threw her into a swimming pool at a New Jersey beach resort has filed an injury claim against The Phillies organization and the men who portray the costumed sports mascot.

Abington, Pa. resident Suzanne M. Peirce claims in her civil action, which was filed at Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court June 11 by Philadelphia attorney Donald F. Manchel, that she suffered various injuries after the Phillie Phanatic, who was entertaining resort guests at the hotel pool the plaintiff was lounging by back on July 17, 2010, picked up the plaintiff’s chair and tossed both the chair and the woman into the pool.

The incident caused Peirce to suffer injuries to her head, neck, back, body, arms, legs, bones, muscles, tendons, nerves, ligaments and tissues, the lawsuit claims.

Peirce was staying at the Golden Inn Hotel and Resort in Avalon, N.J. at the time of the alleged incident to attend her sister’s wedding.

The incident allegedly occurred during what the lawsuit states was the “comic routine” of the Phanatic, which is the mascot for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.

The complaint states that Peirce had to spend large sums of money to treat her physical injuries, and that the injuries have prevented her from carrying out her daily activities and duties.

In addition to the seaside resort and the Phillies organization, the additional defendants named in the lawsuit are Tom Burgoyne and Matt Mehler, both of whom portray the Phillie Phanatic.

The lawsuit does not say which man was playing the character at the time of the alleged incident.

The suit accuses the defendants of negligence for failing to observe the proper precautions while entertaining hotel pool guests, violating the standard of care of a reasonably prudent entertainer under the circumstances, negligently failing to consider the risks inherent in throwing a patron into a pool, failing to consider the possible harm that could come out of throwing someone into a pool, failing to warn the plaintiff she was about to be thrown into a pool, failing to give the plaintiff the option of not engaging in such an activity, and throwing the plaintiff into a shallow part of the pool that would likely result in bodily injury.

Peirce seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as interest, delay damages, litigation costs and other court relief.

 

The case ID number is 120601293.