Wilson Sporting Goods Settles Defective Slugger Class Action Lawsuit

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Wilson Sporting Goods Co. has reached a settlement with consumers that will end a class action lawsuit claiming that the company’s Louisville Slugger Prime BBCOR bats are defective.

Customers who purchased the allegedly defective bats asked the Northern District of Illinois to grant preliminary approval of the settlement deal on Friday.

According to the Louisville Slugger class action lawsuit, the bats are defective because the handle rotates separately from the barrel of the bat after normal use. Customers claimed that this made the pricey bats less effective.

Per the terms of the Louisville Slugger class action settlement people who purchased the potentially affected bats can have them tested for the defect for free by Wilson, and if the defect is found, the bat will be replaced.

If no defect is found, owners will receive a 20 percent off voucher or they can have their bats returned to them.

In the Wilson Sporting Goods class action settlement deal, Wilson will also cover all legal fees for the Class Members, and will pay for testing and shipping the bats.

Wilson continues to deny customers’ claims that the bats are defective and that the company breached warranty with its customers in selling bats that failed prematurely.

The Class Members expressed approval of the Louisville Slugger class action settlement, saying that settling was preferable to continuing to litigate the issue in a potentially lengthy and costly trial, in which they could very well receive no compensation for their alleged financial injury caused by the defective bats.

The plaintiffs stated that “had this case not settled, litigation could have continued for years. Through protracted, heated, and contentious battles over discovery, Wilson and its aggressive legal team have proven to be tenacious adversaries.”

Class members had fielded a move to dismiss by Wilson, along with reportedly heated negotiation. 

Plaintiff George Alea filed the Wilson Louisville Slugger class action lawsuit in January 2017 claiming that he purchased a bat from Wilson for $424.98 for his son to use recreationally and in high school games. Alea claimed that the bat’s handle began to loosen and rotate separately from the bat.

He says that he sent a letter to Wilson Sporting Goods complaining of the problem and saying that the bat was not as effective as it should have been as a result, and asked for a new bat under warranty.

Alea says that Wilson responded by denying his warranty request and telling him that the loosening was normal. Allegedly, the company did not respond to additional communications from Alea.

Curtis Hamberg was added as a named plaintiff to the Wilson bat loosening class action lawsuit in February 2017.

Allegedly, negotiations during this case were notably contentious. In a particularly dramatic moment in discovery, Alea moved to compel discovery, claiming that Wilson was withholding thousands of pages of information on how it advertised the bats.

Wilson then struck back by moving to compel discovery from the Class Members, in turn.

Negotiations leading up to the settlement deal were reportedly no different, and were described as “contentious,” and “focused and intense.”

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The proposed Class is represented by Katrina Carroll and Kyle A. Shamberg of Lite DePalma Greenberg LLC, William H. Anderson of Handley Farah & Anderson PLC, Jon Herskowitz of Baron & Herskowitz, and Charles J. LaDuca and Brendan S. Thompson of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP.

The Wilson Louisville Slugger Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Alea, et al. v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., Case No. 1:17-cv-00498, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

UPDATE: March 2019, the Louisville Slugger baseball bat class action settlement is now open.Click here to file a claim.