SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court is allowing a family to sue because their son was hit in the head by a ball during batting practice before an Albuquerque Isotopes game.
The court on Friday outlined a new legal standard in New Mexico for determining the liability of owners and operators of a commercial baseball stadium for spectator injuries. The justices said stadium operators must exercise “ordinary care” not to increase the inherent risk to spectators of being hit by a baseball.
The Triple-A Isotopes and the city of Albuquerque sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Four-year-old Emilio Crespin was at a picnic table beyond the left field wall on July 21, 2003, when Dave Matranga of the New Orleans Zephyrs hit a ball that fractured the boy’s skull.
