Nov 09 2007 07:19 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 09 2007 07:26 AM
I think the negligence is pretty clear here, and I think the Cards should be happy the girl is only asking for 25 Gs.
Girl sues Cardinals over crude scoreboard message
By Jake Wagman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/09/2007
ST. LOUIS — A lewd scoreboard message at Busch Stadium has found its way into another arena: a court of law.
An Illinois teen is suing the Cardinals, claiming she was ostracized at school after a crude comment about her landed on a ballpark scoreboard. The message appeared through a program that allows fans to post text messages with their cell phones.
According to the suit, the teen was at a game with her high school in May 2006 when a female classmate sent a message saying the plaintiff "has an STD! Eww!"
The girl, then 16, is identified in the suit only by her initials, A.B. She never had a sexually transmitted disease, according to the suit. Advertisement
The suit was filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court. It claims the "shame and humiliation" she suffered forced her to stay out of school, take her final exams in a separate office, and seek psychological counseling. Almost all of her friends were at the game, the suit says, and boys avoided her afterward.
The suit claims the teen "had thoughts of injuring herself," forcing her mother to miss work to care for her.
On Thursday, the Cardinals blamed the incident on a high school rivalry.
"We understand that this was an unfortunate prank played on this young woman by one of her own classmates," said Dan Nelson, an attorney representing the team. "We are, frankly, surprised that the matter has even elevated to this level."
The suit accuses the Cardinals of negligence in allowing a defamatory statement to be published. The girl is seeking damages "in excess of $25,000," plus legal fees.
The Cardinals introduced the scoreboard service when the new stadium opened last year. For $2.99, fans can send a text message from their phone to digital boards along the first- and third-base lines, as well as a display in right-center field.
Vulgar comments are supposed to be caught before they are displayed, but that has not always been the case.
In April 2006, during the stadium's first homestand, a profanity briefly appeared on the scoreboard.
After the "STD" message appeared a month later, the team took additional safeguards to prevent obscene messages, Nelson said. The team does have an employee in the press box who scans text-messages before they are posted.
Though A.B.'s allegations could spell trouble for the Cardinals and other pro teams pioneering the scoreboard technology, the suit does have some inconsistencies.
It claims that A.B. was at a game on May 19; in fact, the Cardinals were in Kansas City that day. The secretary for the teen's lawyer said that was a clerical error that would be corrected. The secretary said the girl actually attended a game the day before, an afternoon contest against the New York Mets.
The suit also claims that "in excess of 48,000 people attended the game," although the official box score lists 41,273 ticket holders. At the time of the game, not all of the seating sections at the new stadium had opened to the public.
The suit was filed by Wood River lawyer Bob L. Perica, who declined to comment. His secretary said Thursday that Perica has a policy not to speak about pending cases.
Perica is a member of the Edwardsville School Board, though there is no indication the girl involved is a student in the district.
jwagman@post-dispatch.com | 314-622-3580
