GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a Gainesville High School baseball player who was tragically killed in a batting cage accident last November is moving forward, the family's attorney told 11Alive.
Jeremy Medina, who was a senior and member of the varsity baseball team as a pitcher and catcher at Gainesville High, was hit in the head with a bat after he accidentally leaned into the batting cage net during hitting drills at the team's indoor facility on Nov. 20. After a month spent fighting for his life, he was declared brain dead and later died.
The lawsuit, filed by the family in May, is efforting to change policy of high school athletics in order to make it safer for student across the state of Georgia.
"Today was an emotional day for the family. Judge Deal got it right and quickly rejected the Defendants' efforts to dismiss the case," the Medina's attorney said in a statement. "Today’s ruling will also allow the Medina family to proceed with discovery and learn the truth . . . No family should have to suffer the heartbreak of losing a child in a preventable accident such as this."
What the May lawsuit said
According to the lawsuit, Jeremy's parents are asking for damages of at least nearly $725,000 and a jury trial for the school officials' alleged negligence and claiming a wrongful death.
The suit names the principal, assistant principal, athletics director, assistant athletics director, athletics trainer, head baseball coach, director of baseball operations, assistant baseball coaches and other employees.
Documents gave more details about what happened on the day of the incident.
The lawsuit stated that the baseball season did not officially start until January 15, but the baseball coaching staff decided to call in a mandatory practice. Parents allege the practice was "illegal" and violated the Georgia High School Association's code.
His parents allege that the practice was unsupervised with no employees or adults. It took over three minutes for an adult to arrive after the incident and over seven minutes for the school's athletics trainer to begin CPR, the suit alleged.
The athletics trainer was unable to access the defibrillator because they did not have access to the key to the AED, according to the lawsuit.
Someone called 911. seven minutes after the incident happened. Jeremy was then taken to the hospital, where he had a brain hemorrhage and other head trauma injuries.
