New York Law Blog

After Sunday night’s Yankee Stadium finale, ownership of the final home run ball ever hit in the park has come into question. When the ball fell into the net covering the area in left-center field, a fan grabbed a hold of the ball through the net. After being instructed by security to let it go, it fell into the hands of another fan in the area. Security retrieved the ball and returned it to the first fan, as in accordance with the rules of Yankee Stadium. The second fan is pursuing his legal avenues, which have been an issue with other big time baseballs:

Legal experts have studied this kind of thing. Paul Finkelman, a professor at Albany Law School, was quoted in a Cardozo Law Review article titled “Fugitive Baseballs and Abandoned Property: Who Owns the Home Run Ball?” The article described a symposium that touched on Barry Bonds’s 500th career homer.

As for the Molina homer, Professor Finkelman said, “it appears to me that when it went into the net, it went into the legal possession of the New York Yankees, and if stadium officials retrieve the ball and say ‘We’ll give it to you’ — whoever they’re pointing to — they have the right to do that.”

The Yankees organization is investigating the incident to see who indeed the ball belongs to. Auctioneers believe the ball could retrieve anywhere from $25-50,000 so there is obviously a lot at stake. It appears though, that by the rules and laws of Yankee Stadium, the ball is in the hands of it’s rightful owner.

Yankee Stadium had a long-established procedure for when a ball is caught in a net and a fan reaches into the net to grab it, according to Howard J. Rubenstein, a spokesman for the Yankees.

He said that the guards were instructed to tell a fan to let go of the ball, and once it was free of the net, a guard would return it.

The fan “doesn’t give up his ownership, he only gives up custody,” Mr. Rubenstein said.

Many people come to us with questions or requests that our out of our practice area, but we’d still love to help as many people as possible, so we’ve started to create an area where you can obtain information about other law resources. Do you have an issue you’d like to file in civil court? The New City Civil Small Claims Court’s website has all of the information you will need to file a claim with the court.

The Small Claims Court provides an inexpensive and simplified process for litigants to resolve their legal problems involving cases of small amounts of money. It is also unique in the offering of an evening session for litigants who must work in the day. Civil Court Judges handle Small Claims Court cases. The Judges assigned to the Civil Court and over 1,000 non-judicial employees work together to serve the people of New York City. Our court is where everyday people come to resolve their everyday civil legal problems. Whether you are a claimant or a defendant, the Small Claims Court is dedicated to providing access to fair and efficient justice.

Information on the site includes general information on the civil court system, legal information including how to start a case, representing yourself, as well as some how to videos on the system. If you have a minor case that you’d like to file in a smaller, civil court environment, this is the best place for you to start and find all of the information you need.

Crane accidents and safety have been in the forefront of the news lately after several very high profile accidents in New York City, Miami, Houston and Las Vegas. Now OSHA has stepped in and issued citations to the Rapetti Rigging Services, who was responsible for a Manhattan crane collapse in March which killed seven people. Also included in the citations were Joy Contractors and Reliance Construction Group, with total monetary repercussions for the three at $313,500.

The failure of the company to inspect the nylon slings and notice pre-existing cuts and snags was one of three factors that led to the collapse, according to federal regulators, who announced on Monday nearly three dozen citations against Rapetti and two other companies.

The citations, issued by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, also accused Rapetti of failing to follow the crane manufacturer’s specifications when raising the crane and failing to use padding to protect the slings from the sharp edges of the crane part.

In response to the outbreak of accidents, the United States Department of Labor has announced it’s first changes to crane regulations since 1971. Certification tests will now be required in all states for crane operators.

The new standards aim to toughen requirements on inspecting ground conditions, the assembly and disassembly of cranes, the operation of cranes near power lines, the certification and training of crane operators, the use of safety devices and inspections of cranes.

Crane operators would have four options under the new requirements: certification through an accredited third-party testing organization, qualification through an audited employer testing program, a U.S. military-issued qualification, or qualification by a state or local licensing authority.

Just 15 states and six cities — including New York state and New York City — require the tests. Texas, which led the nation in deadly crane accidents for the past three years, does not.

The rules will cover a vast majority of the 96,000 cranes across the country, including 2,000 tower cranes, officials said. Another new proposal would require crane operators to use equipment or a spotter to check for power lines and assess the terrain where they will be working before operating a crane.