Family of Utah boy hurt after fall at Little League World Series files lawsuit
The family of a Utah boy who was hospitalized with a serious head injury after falling from a bunk bed at the Little League World Series last month has filed a lawsuit against both the league and the company that made the bed, according to The Associated Press.
Easton Oliverson was discharged from the hospital in Utah last week after his Aug. 15 fall in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but his family said Tuesday that the 12-year-old needed three surgeries, battled a staph infection and started suffering seizures.
“He’s not doing well,” their attorney, Ken Fulginiti, said, via The Associated Press. “The more recent development, after a third craniotomy, is seizures. It’s been a long road.”
The family is seeking more than $50,000 and additional punitive damages in the lawsuit.
Oliverson, a pitcher and outfielder for Utah’s Snow Canyon Little League team, fell off the top of a bunk bed in his sleep early on Aug. 15 just hours after the team arrived at their dorm at the Little League World Series. He was airlifted to a local hospital and needed emergency surgery after sustaining the serious head injury — which his dad said punctured an artery and led to bleeding on the brain.
The Little League World Series pulled all bunk beds from the event soon after the incident.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Philadelphia, there was no railing on the top bunk bed.
"They really appreciate all the support they've gotten throughout the nation," Fulginiti said, via The Associated Press. "But they're struggling to focus on the family. They have two other kids, and it's a lot."