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BUSINESS NEWS GILBANE BUILDING COMPANY SPONSORS ACE IN HOUSTON AND ACROSS THE U.S. Gilbane Inc. (Houston, TX) is a sponsor and participant in the Architecture, Construction, Engineering Mentor Program of America, the nation’s top workforce development organization encouraging youth to pursue STEM- related careers. Angela Cotie of Gilbane, the chairman of the board for the ACE Mentor Houston Affiliate, says the group is poised to enroll and mentor even more students during the 2015-2016 school year. This is the 21st year ACE has offered opportunities for students to prepare them for college and beyond, and the organization has launched a re- designed website, hired a new president and CEO, added new national sponsors, welcomed a new affiliate in Utah, and is supported by the broadest group of distinguished design and construction firm leadership. “The ACE Mentor Program attracts students to its 35-to-40-hour after-school program who want to reach beyond textbooks and understand real- world applications of their studies,” said Thomas Gilbane Jr., chairman of the board of the ACE Mentor Program and chairman and CEO of Gilbane. Results from two 2015 ACE studies show: 63 percent of ACE seniors were minority students vs. the national average of 44.3 percent

98.6 percent of ACE high school seniors graduate from high school vs. the national average of 80 percent 92 percent of ACE seniors entered college directly from high school vs. the national average of 66 percent 70 percent of college-bound ACE seniors major in architecture, engineering, or construction management

QUATMAN, from page 3

dugout. He saw the mascot mount the dugout to begin the toss, but turned to look at the scoreboard just as the mascot threw the foil-wrapped hotdog. A jury found in favor of the Royals, and the fan appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled that the risk of being hit by a hotdog is not an unavoidable part of watching baseball. “That risk is no more inherent in watching a game of baseball than it is inherent in watching a rock concert, a monster truck rally, or any other assemblage where free food or T-shirts are tossed into the crowd to increase excitement and boost attendance,” the court said. While some fans might find the hotdog toss fun to watch between innings, and some come to expect it, the court said, “this does not make the risk of injury from (the mascot’s) hotdog toss an inherent risk of watching a Royals game.” 6 On June 17, 2015, the jury found no fault with either party in a second trial. A 1997 California case had a similar ruling, when a fan was struck in his face by a foul ball during a minor league baseball game after being distracted by the team mascot, a 7-foot dinosaur. The court concluded that, “the antics of the mascot are not an essential or integral part of the playing of a baseball game. In short, the game can be played in the absence of such antics. Moreover, whether such antics increased the inherent risk to plaintiff is an issue of fact to be resolved at trial.” 7 Takeaways: Bring your glove, keep your eye on the ball, watch those mascots carefully, have fun, and be safe! Play ball! G. WILLIAM QUATMAN is an architect and general counsel at Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. (Kansas City, MO). Contact him at bquatman@burnsmcd.com. 1. Pira v. Sterling Equities, Inc., 16 A.D.3d 396, 790 N.Y.S.2d 551 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. 2005). 2. Sparks v. Sterling Doubleday Enterprises, LP, 300 A.D.2d 467 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. 2002). 3. Davidoff v. Metro. Baseball Club, Inc., 463 N.E.2d 1219 (N.Y. 1984). 4. Loughran v. The Phillies, 888 A.2d 872 (Pa.Super. 2005). 5. Romeo v. Pittsburgh Associates, 787 A.2d 1027 (Pa. Super. 2001). 6. Coomer v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., 437 S.W.3d 184 (Mo. 2014). 7. Lowe v. Calif. League of Prof. Baseball, 56 Cal.App.4th 112, 65 Cal. Rptr.2d 105 (Cal. App. 4 Dist. 1997).

fan from the risk of being struck by a baseball while sitting in an area where he knew balls could be thrown. “Countless Pennsylvania court cases have held that a spectator at a baseball game assumes the risk of being hit by batted balls, wildly thrown balls, foul balls, and, in some cases, bats,” according to the court. “Fans routinely arrive early for batting practice in hopes of retrieving an errant baseball as a souvenir, and fans routinely clamor to retrieve balls landing in the stands via home runs or foul balls,” the court added. “Although not technically part of the game of baseball, those activities have become inextricably intertwined with a fan’s baseball experience and must be considered a customary part of the game. Similarly, both outfielders and infielders routinely toss caught balls to fans at the end of an inning.” Therefore, the injuries constituted an inherent risk of the game. 4 In a similar 2001 case involving a Pittsburgh Pirates game, a fan was seated six rows off the field, where there was no screening, netting, or other barrier. When she turned her head briefly, and then back toward home plate, a batted ball struck her in the face and mouth. The trial court dismissed her lawsuit, upheld on appeal, under the “no-duty” rule, which provides that, “operators of a baseball stadium, amusement park, or other such amusement facilities have no duty to protect or to warn spectators from ‘common, frequent, and expected’ risks inherent in the activity.” It was noted that during each and every baseball game, foul balls regularly careen into the grandstand and are oftentimes even caught by spectators. “This reality is a matter of such common everyday practical knowledge that all individuals will be deemed familiar with such neighborhood knowledge,” the court held, even with a first-time attendee! 5 But, what if you are hit by a mascot, a thrown hotdog, or a T-shirt? Is the law different? Yes, according to a 2014 Missouri case. In the summer of 2009, a fan was hit in the eye by a hotdog thrown by the Kansas City Royals’ mascot. The fan had attended 175 Royals games and frequently watched the mascot toss hotdogs from the roof of the

THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 19, 2015, ISSUE 1124

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