The family of a six-year-old girl who died in a badminton accident has launched legal action against the manufacturer of the racket that impaled her. Lucy Morgan, from New Jersey, sustained a catastrophic brain injury during an accident while on a family holiday in Limerick, Maine, on June 1, 2024.
Freak accident during holiday game
Lucy had been playing badminton with her 10-year-old brother when the racket suddenly snapped, driving jagged aluminium through her skull and causing brain trauma that left her unconscious and unresponsive. She was airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where surgeons carried out emergency surgery to remove part of her skull and alleviate brain swelling.
Lucy suffered a cardiac arrest during the operation. Medical staff managed to resuscitate her, but warned the family that her chances of survival were desperately slim. In the early hours of June 5, 2024, she succumbed to her injuries.
Lawsuit alleges faulty racket
Her parents, Bethany and Jesse Morgan, lodged a lawsuit on Monday against Franklin Sports, the Massachusetts-based firm responsible for manufacturing the racket, according to WCVB. The lawsuit claims that the racket, part of a badminton set supplied by the holiday cottage the family were renting, was faulty and lacked sufficient adhesive to secure the metal stem.
It also accuses Franklin Sports of failing to alert consumers to the hazards posed by the product. The family's solicitor, Charles P. Hehmeyer of Berman and Simmons in Maine, characterised Lucy's death as "a parent's worst nightmare".
He said: "We are committed to obtaining justice for Lucy by holding Franklin Sports accountable. We want to ensure these rackets are manufactured in a way where this type of tragedy never occurs again."
Previous incident cited
Mr Hehmeyer said that a child in New York had previously lost an eye due to a Franklin badminton racket, but accused the company of choosing "not to correct this with something as simple as a pin in the handle, which would cost pennies".
The lawsuit is pursuing damages encompassing funeral costs, financial loss, emotional distress, loss of comfort, society and companionship, and other available damages.
Family's final day of holiday
The Morgan family, comprising Lucy, her parents, and her three siblings, were savouring the final day of their week-long family holiday in Limerick when the incident took place. The children had departed to play badminton following lunch when Lucy's father, who serves as a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, suddenly heard screaming.
"Due to a freak accident with a racquet that broke on a downward swing, a sharp piece had entered Lucy's skull while she was sitting on the sideline and caused catastrophic injury," he recalled in a blog entry after her death.
