Abstract
On a rainy evening in 2009, John Coomer was sitting behind the visitor’s dugout at Kauffman Stadium. Between innings, Coomer looked at the scoreboard, and the Kansas City Royals’ mascot Sluggerrr threw a hot dog into the stands, hitting Coomer in the eye and detaching his retina. Coomer sued the Royals for negligence, but the jury found in the Royals’ favor. The Missouri Supreme Court overturned the jury verdict, holding that, while spectators assume the risks of balls and bats flying into the stands, they do not assume the risk of flying hot dogs. The ruling sparked controversy, with one commentator arguing it “defies logic and common sense.” After all, differing liability based on the kind of object flying into the stands seems arbitrary.
Recommended Citation
Eli Bartz,
Look What You Made Me Do: Common-Sense Inferences About Independent Decision-Makers in Standing Law,
91 Mo. L. Rev.
()
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol91/iss2/11