Injury at batting cages

What is the name of your state?Arizona

While at the batting cages, my 8 year old son was standing in line to go into the batting cage as soon as it became available. Since there aren't that many batting cages, kids usually stand in a line with their bats waiting if the batting cages are in use. He picked up the bat in his hand and flung it over his shoulder. He was the last in line to use the cages. There was a little girl who was completely unsupervised, running all over the place while her Mom sat on the other end of the cages, not watching her child. When my kid flung the bat over his shoulder, the little girl came up behind him and unfortunately the bat hit her in the head. She received a laceration to the forehead and was taken to the hospital to get stitches. My son felt so bad and was crying uncontrollably for hours afterward. We followed to the hospital and even stopped to buy a card, a doll and stuffed animal for the little girl. They did have medical insurance, and their only out of pocket expense was 100.00 for a copay, which I offered to pay but the Mom refused. She said she should have been watching her child, and she said she knew by my sons reaction that it was completely accidental. We said our goodbyes and that was that. Now, 5 months later, I get a phone call from an attorney requesting homeowners insurance info. Apparently, the Mom has had a change of heart and wants to sue. Are we liable? Shouldn't the Mom have some liability in this, considering that she allowed her 4 year old child to wander about without supervision at a place where there are 25 kids with bats in their hands?

[stephenk]

sorry, but your son should not have swung the bat in such a way that it could hit someone. when my kid is in line waiting to bat, the bat always remains pointing down at the ground and never on his shoulder.

Inform your homeowner's carrier of the contact by the attorney.

[teflon_jones]

sounds like they may have a legitimate claim against you. while many of the batting cages i've been to require you to sign a blanket waiver before buying tokens to use the cage that absolve them of pretty much anything that you could sue them for, that doesn't apply because the girl wasn't hurt by the batting cages, she was hurt by your son (i'm assuming you signed such a form, or it's a disclaimer on a slip you had to sign to get tokens, or it's clearly posted). in this case, 1) the girl (or her parents) isn't sueing the batting cage proprietor, they're sueing you, and 2) your son swung the bat without regard for the safety of others around him. sorry!