12-year-old girl sues Phils for HR ball ... and wins

[justplayin]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/1...l-...-and-wins


Is it me or is it a little odd that a 12 year old girl was taken to the Phillies clubhouse alone???

[Segagendude]

Thread title's misleading..........Mom's the one who filed the suit.

She was probably hoping to get paid............it's a sue-crazy world we live in.

[SuperBowlNachos]

They should have just destroyed it, but I know that would look bad PR wise. The ball is still Phillies property and no fan has the legal right to keep a ball that goes into the stands.

[Blzer]

I don't get it. If Howard (or the Phillies) wanted the ball for non-monetary values and the girl wanted the ball because of its worth, couldn't they have just paid its actual value and gotten the ball?

Maybe she should just keep the receipt next time if she thinks she is getting the raw end of a deal. What a grimy little bitch.

[baseball66]

lol, the phillies likely just gave her a batting practice ball and told her it was the real one.

[justplayin]

Quote: Originally Posted by olliethebum85

They should have just destroyed it, but I know that would look bad PR wise. The ball is still Phillies property and no fan has the legal right to keep a ball that goes into the stands.

That is not true.

The ball belongs to a fan as a matter of contract. When one purchases a ticket to a professional baseball game, the buyer is led to believe that he is purchasing a number of entitlements — among which are the right to watch the ensuing game without interference and the right to sit in the seat identified on the ticket. Because of the longstanding practice, dating back at least to the 1920’s, of allowing fans to keep balls hit into the stands at professional baseball games, the “right” to keep such balls has become an implicit part of the contract between the team owner and the ticket buyer.

When you purchase a ticket to a baseball game, part of what you are purchasing is the right to keep any ball, hit fair or foul, that you retrieve when it passes into the stands. Every baseball fan knows this. To demand the return of a ball at this late date would constitute a breach of contract. Even if the fan were not entitled to the return of the ball itself, if it were improperly taken away, the fan would be entitled to the cash equivalent of the ball’s value.


This would not prevent a team from announcing a new policy that all balls batted into the stands must be returned if requested, but it seems highly unlikely that any team owner would adopt such a policy, which would surely anger fans and give them reasons not to purchase tickets.


So the Phillies were actually right. The ball did belong to Jennifer Valdivia. It was hers under the terms of the contract between young Jennifer and the Marlins that was created when she purchased her ticket.



What the Phillies did wrong was to try to defraud a young girl whose family knew how to find a lawyer who understood the sports memorabilia market.



www.law.marquette.edu

[chadskee]

Yeah that was really lame of the Phillies Front Office. I'm glad they got the ball back.

[jetercanoturn2]

I'm sure the family are Met's fans