It should have been an exciting and fun-filled day when a father and son went to the first NFL football game of the year in their hometown. They were ready to cheer their team on together and they had also been given the opportunity to go onto the field during the game as well. However, the day quickly turned tragic when the father suffered a serious attack in the stadium and passed away.
But there is much more to this story. According to the man’s wife, the fatal heart attack was caused by an extremely stressful and threatening altercation with a security guard in the stadium. She recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her son against the team, the NFL, stadium operators, the security company and the security guard involved in the situation.
The guard and father had gotten into an argument when the security guard disputed the young boy’s credentials to be on the field. The fighting lasted for more than 15 minutes, even after the boy left the field, and shortly after, the father suffered the heart attack.
According to the wife’s lawsuit, her husband’s tragic death was an immediate result of the overly aggressive and hostile treatment by the security guard for what should have been a minor disagreement. While this can be a difficult point to prove in court, the woman is working with attorneys through the litigation process in the hopes of holding the above-mentioned parties responsible for the loss.
The wife is seeking $10 million in damages. It is crucial to remind folks in Palm Springs that this or any other number specified in wrongful death lawsuits is not the amount of money a person’s life was worth or how much it will take to get over the tragic loss, as no amount of money do that. Instead, civil damages awarded in these types of cases are intended to compensate surviving family members for the economic loss that has been experienced after a death caused by negligence. This can include lost wages, loss of consortium, loss of support and pain and suffering.
Source: NBC Sports, “Patriots sued for incident resulting in death of fan,” Mike Florio, Aug. 21, 2013