HAGERSTOWN, Md. — An Ohio company yesterday settled a lawsuit filed by two men who claimed they were served french fries seasoned with oven cleaner instead of vinegar at a minor-league baseball game.
The parties would not release terms of the settlement, reached minutes before the scheduled start of a jury trial to determine compensation for plaintiffs Stephen Parrotte and Brian L. Marquiss. The Hagerstown men claimed they suffered serious, permanent injuries to their mouths, throats and digestive tracts from ingesting sodium hydroxide that a Hagerstown Suns concessions worker poured from an unmarked plastic jug.
The defendant, Big Game Capital LLC, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, acknowledged negligence in a court filing in December.
“It’s all settled, and we settled it very well,” Mr. Parrotte said as he and Mr. Marquiss left Washington County Circuit Court with their attorneys.
The men, who are friends, said they ordered vinegar on their fries at a home game in Municipal Stadium April 24, 2003, and instead were served fries inadvertently doused with oven cleaner.
Big Game Capital owned the club through a subsidiary, Big Game Maryland LLC, from 2001 to mid-2003, when it sold the team to Mandalay Entertainment Group of Los Angeles. The Suns were then affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, but are now a Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
Big Game Capital also owns the Daytona Cubs, a minor-league baseball team in Florida, and has a minority stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. Big Game Capital also owns Flexalloy Inc., a distributor of industrial fasteners based in Streetsboro, Ohio, and Geotrac Inc., a supplier of flood-zone data and real estate settlement services based in Norwalk, Ohio.
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