A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a Gainesville (Ga.) High School baseball player who was killed in a batting cage accident last November is moving forward after a judge rejected a motion to dismiss the case.
As reported Friday by Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA, Jeremy Medina, who was a senior and member of the varsity baseball team as a pitcher and catcher at Gainesville, was hit in the head with a bat after he accidentally leaned into the batting cage net during hitting drills at the team's indoor facility on Nov. 20. Medina, who experienced a brain hemorrhage and other head trauma injuries, spent a month in a hospital, but was ultimately declared brain dead.
The lawsuit, filed by the family in May, seeks to change policy to make it safer for student across the state of Georgia.
"Today was an emotional day for the family. Judge [Jason] Deal got it right and quickly rejected the Defendants' efforts to dismiss the case," the Medinas' attorney said in a statement, as reported by WXIA. "Today’s ruling will also allow the Medina family to proceed with discovery and learn the truth . . . No family should have to suffer the heartbreak of losing a child in a preventable accident such as this."
According to the lawsuit, Jeremy's parents are asking for damages of nearly $725,000 and a jury trial to determine the school officials' alleged negligence.
The suit names the principal, assistant principal, athletic director, assistant athletic director, athletic trainer, head baseball coach, director of baseball operations, assistant baseball coaches and other employees.
The lawsuit stated that the baseball season did not officially start until Jan. 15, but the baseball coaching staff decided to call a mandatory practice. Parents allege the practice was "illegal" and violated the Georgia High School Association rules.
According to WXIA reporters Reeves Jackson and Akilah Winters, Medina's parents allege that the practice was unsupervised, with no employees or adults. It took over three minutes for an adult to arrive after the incident and over seven minutes for 911 to be called and the school's athletic trainer to begin CPR, the suit alleged. Moreover, the athletic trainer did not have access to a key to the AED, according to the lawsuit.
