PHILADELPHIA – A trio of defendants are seeking to have litigation brought by a Central Pennsylvania couple surrounding extensive ocular injuries the husband-plaintiff suffered after a baseball allegedly ripped through polyethylene safety netting and struck him in the right eye, transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Corey Twigg and Lori Twigg of Montoursville first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 19, 2021 versus Varsity Brands Holding, Company, Inc., BSN Sports, Inc. and Sport Supply Group, Inc. of Farmers Branch, Texas, Spartan Athletic Company of Oaks and Garware Technical Fibres Ltd. (doing business as “Gold Medal Athletic Products”) of Maharashtra, India.
Plaintiff Corey Twigg was hosting indoor batting practice in March 2019 with batting cage and safety equipment manufactured by defendants Varsity Brands Holding Co. Inc., BSN Sports, Inc., Sport Supply Group, Inc., Spartan Athletic Company and Gold Medal Athletic Products.
The suit stated that the batting net and its equipment was marketed and promoted as being safe for use – but despite this, he suffered serious and life-altering injuries as a result of the dangerous and defective condition of the subject product.
“The Polyethylene safety netting and Collegiate L Screen herein failed to reasonably perform as intended. The Polyethylene safety netting degraded and allowed a baseball to rip through the safety netting striking plaintiff Corey Twigg directly in the right eye causing serious and devastating injury which necessitated plaintiff’s eye to be surgically removed via invasive surgery and necessitated additional physical and emotional trauma,” the suit stated.
In answers to the litigation, the defendants uniformly denied the plaintiffs’ allegations.
UPDATE
Varsity Brands Holding, Company, Inc., BSN Sports, LLC and Garware Technical Fibres Ltd. filed a joint motion to transfer the case to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on May 20 – on the grounds that the safety screen at issue was purchased in and delivered in the Middle District, the accident occurred in the Middle District, most witnesses reside or work in the Middle District and because the plaintiffs reside in the Middle District.
“According to his complaint, the Montoursville Area School District employed Mr. Twigg as a sixth-grade teacher and assistant baseball coach for Montoursville High School in 2019. Mr. Twigg alleged that on March 10, 2019, he was throwing baseballs during batting practice inside of a Montoursville High School gym. Mr. Twigg claimed that during this batting practice, he was sitting behind the safety screen when a batter hit a ball that went through the polyethylene net and struck him in the face. Mr. and Mrs. Twigg sued, alleging, that the safety screen and polyethylene net was defective or unsafe in various ways,” the defendants’ joint filing stated, in part.
“This case has virtually no connection to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The accident did not occur in the Eastern District. None of the parties – including the plaintiffs – are located in or reside in the Eastern District. Likewise, most of the potential fact and expert witnesses are known or believed to be located outside of the Eastern District. Indeed, most of the potential witnesses are known or believed to be located in the Middle District or in effectively neutral locations such as Arizona, Michigan, and New Jersey. Because there is insufficient connection between this venue and lawsuit, the Middle District of Pennsylvania is the proper venue.”
For counts of strict product liability (manufacturing defect, design defect and failure to warn), negligence and loss of consortium, the plaintiffs are seeking damages including loss of wages, loss of earning capacity, mental and physical suffering, medical expenses and injuries and punitive damages.
The plaintiffs are represented by Nicholas W. Mattiacci of N.W. Mattiacci Law, in Jenkintown.
The defendants are represented by Anderson L. Cao and Joel W. Mohrman of Akerman Law in Houston, Texas, plus John Michael Kunsch of Sweeney & Sheehan and John T. Donovan and Mary Susan Toth of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, all in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:21-cv-00768
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com