Safety net maker not responsible for ex-UPMC executive's injuries caused by foul ball at Pirates game, court rules

A jury was correct in exonerating the maker of the safety net behind PNC Park’s home plate in the case of a former UPMC executive who was struck by a foul ball in 2015, a Superior Court judge has ruled.

Wendy Camlin, who at the time she was injured was director of patient care of Obstetric and Newborn Services, had sought to overturn a 2018 civil verdict that found Promats, the maker of the safety net, wasn’t responsible for the incident.

Camlin was attending a Pirates game April 20, 2015, at the invitation of her boss when, as she turned to walk into the first-row seats behind home plate, a foul ball flew backward into the netting. The netting, which Promats had replaced less than three weeks earlier, stretched back, according to the court filings, and the ball struck Camlin in the back of the head.

Camlin received medical attention during a 23-minute delay in the game before being removed on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland. She was treated and released by the next day, authorities said.

The court opinion, issued Friday by President Judge Emeritus John Bender, noted a PNC Park usher was escorting Camlin to her seat while the game was in action.

Camlin, before the case went to trial, reached an undisclosed settlement with the Pirates and the Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, according to the opinion. She had claimed Promats was negligent because the netting was defective and the company failed to warn anyone that, without the right tension, the net would not stop foul balls.

The jury disagreed. Camlin appealed, arguing the trial judge should have included in the jury instructions that Promats had a legal duty to protect her because the company “held itself out as an ‘expert’ in baseball safety products.”

Bender disagreed and pointed to trial testimony in which a Promats official testified that he installed the net, tensioned it to the degree that was done in other ballparks and “received the appropriate approval for the job.”

Bender also noted that a Pirates official had testified that the team’s maintenance crew was in charge of inspecting the netting.

Promats merged with its parent company, Sportsfield Specialties, in 2019. A representative could not immediately be reached for comment.