PITTSBURGH – The parents of a teenager who sustained serious physical and psychological injuries as a result of being struck in the head with a plastic baseball bat, have sued the minor child allegedly responsible for inflicting the injuries in question.
Minor D.P., by and through his parents William J. Puccio and Sherry R. Puccio, of Carnegie filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 5 versus minor H.H., also of Carnegie.
The complaint explains that on June 4, 2015, D.P., then 14 years old, was playing with H.H. and other children in the yard located at 855 Lindsay Road, when defendant H.H. negligently, carelessly, and recklessly swung a plastic baseball bat in such a fashion as to cause the bat to violently collide with the head of D.P., causing serious and severe injuries to plaintiff.
The suit says H.H. wielded the bat too close to D.P.’s head and body, caused the bat to impact the plaintiff’s head and failed to prevent the bat from striking the plaintiff, among a number of other charges.
As a result, D.P. allegedly suffered a concussion and closed-head injury; significant bruising, contusions and swelling to the right side of his head, neck and face; a ruptured right eardrum and disruption of the bones of the inner ear; a loss of hearing in the right ear; pain in the head, jaw, neck, face and right ear; problems with balance, dizziness, sensitivity to noise and light, with numbness and pain of pinna; mental fogginess, trouble with concentration and memory, slurred speech/stuttering and increase of sleepiness; dental/jaw injury, plus cosmetic disfigurement and other injuries.
“Defendant’s conduct constitutes reckless and wanton conduct warranting the imposition of punitive and exemplary damages for defendant’s willful, wanton and gross negligence and extreme reckless disregard for the value of human life and knowing reckless indifference to the value of the life of the plaintiff,” the suit states.
For negligence, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of the statutory arbitration limits of Allegheny County, plus court costs and Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 238 damages, as well as punitive and exemplary damages and any and all other relief that the Court shall deem proper and appropriate, in addition to a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Gary L. Ciao and Jesse A. Torisky of Ciao Torisky & O’Connor, in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-18-001698
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com