I'm somewhat surprised the NBA didn't throw their legal muscle into this. Goes beyond Kobe if there is a legal precedent that fans can sue the players (and therefore, the league) for injury in these situations.
I thought the same thing. I thought the NBA would do something about this. If fans can just sue NBA players for diving into the stands for the ball, then it would be a huge mess. Players would stop diving into the stands and take away the hustle and excitement. If you sit in the front row, you should know that there is a risk of players jumping into you. That is the thrill of the front row. If you don't want to get hit, then don't sit in the front row. Its not Kobe's fault that he was going after the ball. The things that people would sue nowadays is pathetic. LIke that pathetic lady that sued McDonalds for the coffee being too hot. It's ridiculous.
because the lawyer fees he would have to pay would probably be at twice that amount. Sucks, but that's the way it is.
I am not a lawyer so I could be wrong. But the "you should know the risk" argument doesn't seem to have much legal weight. The league needs to do something to protect players from being sued for this kind of things. I mean, people sue companies for injuries due to a wet floor. You can't just argue, "Hey, you should know the risk of walking on wet floor."
I wouldn't be surprised if the NBA already has some sort of disclaimer about dangers of sitting in the front rows at basketball games. Can anyone who has had courtside seats enlighten us? In the end, though, the amount Kobe ended up settling for is just a minor dent in his pocketbook.
it sounds like the only thing that would take this to trial was the supposed intentional elbow, deemed as assault. i would wager that there are already things in place to protect the NBA in the case of an injury from incidental contact in the first few rows.
what about NFL players? and yeah this case is stupid. now someone who goes to a baseball gets hit by a foul ball or home run ball, and get a bruise can sue the player for hitting the ball.
You read a biased sports article, not the facts of the law suit. After seeing Kobe drop that UFC style short elbow on Battier in the '09 playoffs, it's not unreasonable to think he would do the same to a fan of the opposing team if he was losing and pissed off.
Sounds like a typical hack writer who spouts trash without bothering to do any sort of research. It wouldn't surprise me if Kobe did intentionally attack a fan while diving for a loose ball. If so, then this lawsuit is very legit. Unfortunately, Kobe has expensive lawyers that are good enough to help him get away with being a criminal.
Laker fan here. There is scant footage of this scene, but he appeared to have his forearm/elbow extended out to cushion his blow. It wasn't one of those simple looking O.C. crashes into a fan. That's the problem. He was anticipating impact and the other guy acted as his unwitting buffer. That's probably why it even got far enough for a settlement to be offered. I doubt Kobe cared to bother with some kind of court statement for the following: a) he wipes with new $100s, b) guy was already dead, reducing any sting normally associated with forking over cash to an ambulance chaser, c) bad for PR to bring the footage and discussion of the thing into memory again. There were even Kobeboys at LG who forgot about this. I vaguely recalled seeing the replay footage of this during the game itself and then never again. Quick settlement turned it into a topic here that sunk to the 5th page in about 2 days.
Back in the early 80s, Cedric Maxwell launched himself at a standing heckler at the Philly Spectrum. He put his full hip/body into him and they both crashed into the guy's seat. Footage of it isn't on YT, but I believe the guy filed suit if my memory serves me. I've seen the clip, it was blatantly violent, almost to the point of being amusing how the game was back then. Richard Belzer got a settlement out of the WWF, which McMahon and the Hulkster thought was lenient and that was because Hulk choked him out on Belzer's show with Belzer's approval before the stunt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7n_SHrK408 I'm pretty sure the thing is that you can get sued for damn near anything, even if you THOUGHT there was assumed risk involved. Don't assume...
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/11a0881n-06.pdf This is the 6th circuit's decision. Looks like Kobe just didn't want to deal with it. He obviously doesn't want to take this to trial (time/cost concerns as well as PR concerns). It'd be his word (and possibly video footage) vs. a dead guy's word. No chance to cross-examine the guy in court nor call him for another deposition. Better to settle and make the case go away.
Apparently in the guy's deposition is a claim that Kobe pushed off with his elbow AFTER the initial contact (which would be covered under "assumption of risk" doctrine - appeals court acknowledges this). This 2ndary contact is what the appeals court sent back to the district court to examine. All Kobe would have had to have done is find video footage or give a statement himself (in a deposition or in court) to win this case (but that probably would have cost more in attorney's fees than the settlement).
