Major League Baseball argued on Tuesday that it cannot be held liable in a lawsuit filed by a woman whose husband fell to his death during an Atlanta Braves game at Turner Field.
On Aug. 29, 2015, 60-year-old Greg Murrey, whose blood-alcohol content was over the legal limit, toppled over the railing in the upper deck after standing up in his second-row seat and hyperventilating. The height of the railing was 30 inches.
Laura Murrey's lawsuit contends her husband would not have died if the railing had been taller, and her litigation accuses the Braves and MLB of negligence.
But Atlanta lawyer Doug Scribner, who represents both MLB and the Braves, contended MLB should not be a defendant in the case because it exerted no control over the stadium. Atlanta Braves executives testified in pretrial depositions, “We decide on the height of the railings,” Scribner said. “MLB does not tell us what to do.”
Scribner asked Fulton County State Court Judge John Mather to dismiss the league from the case before it goes to trial in November.
Also Tuesday, a lawyer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV asked Mather not to rule on MLB’s request before determining whether documents that had been deemed “highly confidential” should continue to be kept from public view.
In November, the news organizations asked Mather to stop allowing MLB and the Braves to seal records in the litigation, and to hold a hearing to ensure records concerning previous injuries and safety concerns at the stadium are made public. So far, Mather has deferred making a decision on the confidentiality issue.
On Tuesday, Cynthia Counts, who represents the AJC and WSB, repeatedly asked Mather to decide right away as to whether the records warrant being kept from public view.
“It’s not appropriate under the First Amendment” for the records to be kept secret without a court hearing and specific findings, Counts said. Some documents “may be highly confidential, but there may be some that are not,” she said.
Mather told Counts she might be correct and promised to hold a hearing to determine whether any of the roughly 50 documents that have been kept secret should be made public. “But I’m not prepared to make that ruling today,” he said.
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Mather later declined to close the courtroom to the public when MLB’s lawyers objected to pages from “highly confidential” records being shown on a slide display by lawyer Mike Caplan, who represents the Murrey family. Mather instead instructed Caplan to share the documents with him and summarize them when making his arguments.
During his arguments, Caplan said there is “a wealth of evidence” that shows MLB supervises and manages the safety concerns at Turner Field.
For example, he said, when the Braves wanted to change its premium seating behind home plate in 2005, the team had to write a letter to MLB asking for permission to do so. When MLB responded by saying such a change required the Braves to add additional safety netting to shield the new area, the Braves agreed to do so, Caplan said.
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