WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Teams that stay in the Williamsport complex for the Little League World Series will continue to sleep in single beds in the wake of last year’s incident where a boy seriously injured his head when he fell out of his top bunk.
Little League International made the change last year after 12-year-old Easton Oliverson, a pitcher and outfielder for the Snow Canyon Little League All-Stars of Santa Clara, was injured in August.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we placed all beds individually on the floor during last year’s World Series, and in preparation for the 2023 Little League International Tournament, Little League decided to provide its participants with single, one-level beds for all of their player housing at each of its tournament locations, including those in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the dormitories can accommodate all 14 single beds,” Little League International said Monday in a statement.
The Oliverson family had kept Easton’s condition continuously updated on social media with photos of the boy — in a wheelchair and wearing baseball T-shirts — posing for pictures with his family and friends until the end of 2022. The family later sued the league and the company that made the bed.
The negligence lawsuit, filed by Jace and Nancy Oliverson on last September in Philadelphia, said there was no railing on the top bunk. They have been seeking $50,000 for negligence and $50,000 for infliction of emotional distress from Little League Baseball; and $50,000 for negligence, $50,000 for liability, $50,000 for breach of warranty and $50,000 for infliction of emotional distress from John Savoy & Son Inc., the manufacturer of the bed.
The lawsuit has progressed since then, with the most recent hearing last Thursday remotely with the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Judge Linda Carpenter. In that hearing, Carpenter dismissed the infliction of emotional distress complaint for the bed manufacturer but kept the complaint pending against Little League Baseball.
According to court documents, the projected civil jury trial of the case is not scheduled until December 2024.
Little League did not comment this week on the lawsuit.
This year’s tournament starts this week and runs Aug. 16-27. The 2023 Snow Canyon all-stars lost in the championship game of the Mountain Regional 10-0 to Nevada on Friday. Had they won, they’d have returned to Williamsport.
St. George News reporter Chris Reed contributed to this story.
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