Phillie Phanatic Sued for Tossing Woman Into Pool

Phillie Phanatic sued after an incident at a Jersey Shore hotel.

Imagine lounging by the pool when a giant fuzzy green thing suddenly picks you up and throws you in the water.

That's what happened to Suzanne Peirce at a Jersey Shore hotel pool, the woman claims in her Phillie Phanatic lawsuit.

Peirce says that she was attending her sister's wedding at The Golden Inn in Avalon and was relaxing poolside in a lounge chair. Without warning, the Phillie Phanatic picked up both herself and the lounge chair and threw them into the water, reports the Philadelphia Daily News.

It's not clear why the Phanatic was there in full costume.

Peirce's Phillie Phanatic lawsuit claims that "she hurt just about everything" in the incident; including, suffering "severe and permanent injuries to her head, neck, back, body, arms and legs, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and tissues," reports the Daily News. It should be noted that the pool did have water in it, but Peirce was thrown in the shallow end.

It wasn't reported on what grounds Suzanne Peirce is suing on, but it's likely that the Phillie Phanatic was sued on a civil assault or a negligence claim. Generally, to win such a claim, the plaintiff would have to show that she suffered some injury through the careless acts of another. In this case, Suzanne Peirce said she suffered significant injuries and the acts of the Phanatic can be reasonably characterized as careless.

However, what is interesting in this Phillie Phanatic lawsuit is that Peirce doesn't know who threw her in the pool. After all, the Phillie Phanatic was in full costume. So, Suzanne Peirce sued both Tom Burgoyne and Matt Mehler who frequently dress up as the Phanatic as well as any other unnamed individual who may have been playing the role.

So we know the Phillie Phanatic was sued for tossing Suzanne Peirce into a pool. It's just not clear yet who was inside the Phillie Phanatic when the tossing occurred. This should be an interesting one to unravel.

Related Resources:

• Phillie Phanatic mascot sued for tossing woman in hotel pool (The Republic)
• Elements of Assault (FindLaw)
• Swimming Pool Injuries (FindLaw)
• Phillie Phanatic Sued ... Again (FindLaw's Injured)