A pitcher called "The Wild Thing," a poorly placed net and a bullpen-side seat added up to a $2.7 million jury verdict on Tuesday for a Boca Raton woman hit in the face by a
warm-up pitch.
A Broward jury decided Linda Postlethwaite, 48, a former PaineWebber stockbroker, should be compensated for injuries she suffered at an Aug. 8, 1993, game between the Florida Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies.
She will actually receive $972,000 as a result of the verdict, plus an unknown amount from confidential settlements.
Her injury occurred during the eighth inning of a Marlins-Phillies game during the Marlins' opening season.
The thrower was the Phillies' late inning relief pitcher, Mitch Williams, nicknamed "The Wild Thing" because of his unruly arm and history of beaning other players.
At the game that led to the civil lawsuit, Williams' pitch hit Postlethwaite between the eyes and sent her to the hospital with a broken nose. She continues to have headaches and impaired concentration, said Bob Kelley, her attorney.
"She hasn't worked since the accident," he said.
After a nine-week trial, the jury held then-Marlins owner H. Wayne Huizenga, the teams and the owner of Pro Player Stadium, then called Joe Robbie Stadium, responsible. All the defendants except the Phillies and Robbie Stadium Corp., the stadium owner, settled confidentially after the jury was selected.
Testimony showed that a week before the game, the net over the bullpen was lowered so it wouldn't block fans' views.
First someone from the Marlins' front office ordered the net down from 13 feet to 10 feet. Then Huizenga himself ordered it down to 8 feet, according to an architects' memo, Kelley said.
The net didn't protect Postlethwaite, who was sitting in a coveted founders' field seat on the third base line beside the Phillies' bullpen.
"The net was not high enough, so when Mitch threw the pitch that day, it went right over the top and hit her in the face,': Kelley said.
Though Huizenga, the Marlins, stadium designer HOK Sports and pitcher Williams settled before the trial, in the end the jury apportioned fault among them and the two defendants who went to trial.
The jury found Williams and HOK Sports free of culpability. Huizenga was found most to blame, at 36.5 percent; then Robbie Stadium Corp., at 31.5 percent; then the Marlins, at 27.5 percent, and finally the Phillies, at 4.5 percent.
In the end, unless there is a successful appeal, the Robbie company will owe Postlethwaite $850,500 and the Phillies will owe her $121,500, for a total of $972,000.
Only the settling parties and lawyers know whether their deals were more or less favorable than the sums they would have had to pay toward the jury verdict if they had stayed in the case. Huizenga would have been out $985,500 and the Marlins would have owed $742,500.
Defense attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Copyright (c) 1999,
The South Florida Sun Sentinel
|
Legal-eze Services
Used in the
Postlethwaite
v Joe Robbie Stadium et al
Matter:
|
- Trial exhibits
- Medical illustrations
|
|