Unfortunately for one Kentucky teen, playing sword baseball with a water-bottle resulted in a severe accidental injury that is now the subject of a product liability lawsuit. While the teen was playing with friends by using a sword as a bat, and hitting plastic water bottles with it, the sword came apart, and the blade struck the teen in the head.
The teen was in a coma for over a month, and had to undergo numerous medical procedures. Despite all this already, it is expected that his recovery will require lifelong medical care. His parents have filed a lawsuit against the sword’s manufacturer as a result of a product defect.
Defective Sword Liability
The parents of the injured teen filed a lawsuit alleging that the sword was defective because it came apart, and the defect caused the injury. Specifically, the sword’s blade and handle came apart, and the blade struck the teen in the head. The lawsuit points to the fact that the sword’s handle appeared to have been glued on, rather than secured by rivets or bolts. Additionally, it is alleged that the sword was shipped with no warnings, or descriptions, let alone any indication of whether it was intended for decorative use only, or any other uses.
These allegations may seem remote given that the the teen was engaged in an activity that’s outside normally expected uses. However, the allegations are still cognizable product liability claims. Generally, an injury must be foreseeable, but that does not mean the exact action contemplated needs to occur. Simply swinging the sword could be such a foreseeable action, that it may not matter that the sword was being used as a bat. Since the blade came apart from the handle, the manufacturer may have a difficult time explaining how their sword, which if not labeled as a purely decorative sword, can be fit for the intended purpose of a sword, given that swords are swung both in play and in the practice of martial arts.