A wrongful death and product liability lawsuit brought by the family of six-year-old Lucy Morgan against Massachusetts-based Franklin Sports alleges the company's badminton racket separated during normal use on June 1, 2024, in Limerick, Maine, driving its aluminum shaft into Lucy's skull. She died at Maine Medical Center in Portland on June 5, 2024.
Attorney Charles P. Hehmeyer, representing the Morgan family, described the case to WCVB 5 as "a parent's worst nightmare." The family was on its final full day at a lake cottage when the children decided to play badminton in the front yard. The set had been supplied at the rental property. Lucy's ten-year-old brother was playing outside when the aluminum shaft became dislodged from the wooden handle and struck her in the head. She was transported first to Southern Maine Health Care in Sanford, then airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
What the complaint alleges
The lawsuit, a copy of which was reviewed by WCVB 5, identifies four claimed failures: the handle and shaft were not adequately secured, the adhesive joining them was defective or insufficient, the design lacked a secondary restraint to prevent the metal portion from separating as a projectile, and Franklin Sports failed to warn consumers of the risk.
Hehmeyer told WCVB 5 that this was not the company's first racket-separation case. He alleged a child in New York previously lost an eye when a Franklin racket came apart and that the company knew of the incident but did not correct the design. A pin in the handle, he said, would have cost "pennies."
Lucy's three siblings witnessed the incident, and the complaint, obtained also by People, says all three suffered "severe emotional distress." Lucy's parents heard her screaming and ran to her, the complaint alleges. Her father, Jesse Morgan, is a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, New Jersey.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, including funeral expenses, emotional distress damages, and loss of comfort, society, and companionship, along with other relief permitted under Maine law. No specific dollar figure is listed in the complaint.