6yo New Jersey child dies 4 days after she and siblings started playing with badminton racket at rental cottage. Now her parents are suing

The family of a six-year-old girl has filed a wrongful death lawsuit following a fatal accident involving a piece of sports equipment at a vacation rental. The legal action comes after the young child sustained a severe head injury while her siblings were playing badminton.

According to The Sun, the family of six-year-old Lucy Morgan, from Stockholm, New Jersey, initiated the lawsuit against Franklin Sports Inc., the manufacturer of the badminton racquet involved in the incident. The tragedy took place on June 1, 2024, in Limerick, Maine, while the family was enjoying their final day of vacation at a lakeside rental cottage. Per The NY Post, Lucy’s older siblings were playing badminton while Lucy and her younger brother watched. 

Lucy’s father, Jesse Morgan, a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, New Jersey, described the incident in a blog post. He wrote, “Due to a freak accident with a racquet that broke on a downward swing, a sharp piece had entered Lucy’s skull while she was sitting on the sideline and caused catastrophic injury.” Per Maine Police, the aluminum shaft had dislodged from the wooden handle. The shaft then struck Lucy in the temple, piercing her skull. 

A fight for accountability

The family’s attorney, Travis Brennan of the firm Berman & Simmons, noted, “This case represents a parent’s worst nightmare.” Per ABC affiliate WMTW, the lawsuit alleges that the equipment was defective and unreasonably dangerous. 

Specifically, the complaint reportedly states that the adhesive connecting the handle and stem was inadequate and that the design lacked a secondary restraint, such as a simple pin, which could have prevented the metal stem from separating during normal use. In a different case of inadequate restraints, a hammock attached to a chimney that was not braced led to the tragic deaths of two men.

This is not the first time a Franklin Sports racquet has been linked to such an injury. According to WMTW, attorneys for the Morgan family pointed to a previous incident in New York where a child lost an eye after a similar racquet component separated. “The company knew that but chose not to correct this with something as simple as a pin in the handle, which would cost pennies,” attorney Chalrs P. Hehmeyer told WMTW.

According to the NY Post, after the accident, Lucy was airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland. The Sun reported that Jesse described the experience at the hospital, writing, “Upon arrival she went right to the operating room where they removed part of her skull to relieve pressure and deal with her injury.”

Per the outlets, she initially flatlined on the table. Jess wrote, “She coded, they got her back, and they completed the surgery.” Despite these efforts, when she was in the pediatric ICU, the family was informed that “very slim chance she recovers.” In a different instance, during a hike in Montana, a man slipped and impaled himself on his Hiking pole. However, he was able to use his medical experience to save himself and hike ten miles back to help.

The Sun reported that Lucy was declared brain dead in the middle of the night on June 5, 2024. The lawsuit filed in York County seeks various damages, including funeral expenses, emotional distress, and compensation for the loss of companionship. Per WMTW, Brennan noted, “We are committed to obtaining justice for Lucy by holding Franklin Sports accountable. We want to ensure these rackets are manufactured in a way where this type of tragedy never occurs again.”

The emotional toll on the family has been immense. Per the NY Post, Jesse Morgan shared the difficulty of returning home without his daughter. According to the father, Lucy’s three siblings, Silas, 10, Shiloh, 8, and Atticus, 4, are struggling to understand the loss and “blaming themselves.” Per Jesse’s blog, the brother who was playing with the racquet has expressed profound grief, asking his parents “how we could ever be happy again.”

Through their legal representatives, Lucy’s family remain committed to seeking justice for Lucy and pushing for safer manufacturing standards for consumer sports equipment.