Sept. 12, 2011Craig Calcaterra
HardBallTalk.com
You always have to take a damage claim in a lawsuit with a grain of salt. Either theyre small because the plaintiff is simply alleging enough to meet a jurisdictional threshold for the particular court theyre inclaiming, say, no less than 15,000 to make it clear the suit doesnt belong in small claims courtor else its comically large for the purposes of getting attention (Plaintiff demands 7 billion for emotional distress following the willful and wanton destruction of his couch cushion fort by defendant). The point is that the complaint in a lawsuit does not tie the plaintiff to a certain amount of damages.
But as the case progresses, the damages do have to be established with specificity. And proven, once the case has been reduced to judgment in favor of the plaintiff. To that end, there will be discovery, filings and other bits of info that reveal the damages case the plaintiffs plan to put on when the time comes.
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That process is beginning in the Bryan Stow case against the Los Angeles Dodgers arising out of his near-fatal beating on Opening Day. The damage claim at the moment: 50 million.
The Associated Press reported the following details on Monday:
Lawyers for the San Francisco Giants fan who was brutally beaten outside Dodger Stadium say his medical care is expected to cost more than 50 million.City News Service reports the figure was part of a damage estimate included in papers filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.The filings come in a lawsuit Stow and his children have brought against Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and 13 others in the baseball team's organization.
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