Baseball Injuries Cause Stir in Court and Out : Jury Awards $180,000 to Woman Hit by a Foul Ball at 1978 Astros’ Game

An 18-year-old Houston woman injured by a baseball during a Houston Astros’ game received $180,000 in what attorneys say is the first such award ever granted by a jury in U.S. history.

Karen Friedman was 11 when she was struck on the head by a foul line drive--traveling at an estimated 125 m.p.h.--near the end of an Astros’ game against Pittsburgh in the Astrodome on June 14, 1978.

A lawsuit filed by her father, Dr. Robert Friedman, said the girl was standing behind the Astros’ dugout trying to get autographs from players when the ball hit her.

She suffered a broken facial bone and an eye injury in the incident, according to the suit. Her attorney, Leonard Kahn, said that doctors had to insert a plate in her head and that she still has vision problems in her right eye.

A jury in state district court on Tuesday awarded her $180,000--$125,000 in punitive damages and the remainder as compensation for the mental suffering of the woman and her father.

The jury found that the Houston Sports Assn., which owns the Astros, was negligent in not warning her of the hazard posed by foul balls hit during baseball games at the Astrodome.

Kahn said he believes it was the first time in U.S. history that a jury awarded damages to a spectator injured during a sporting event.

The baseball commissioner’s office said it knew of no other jury awards in such a case.