Former SEMO baseball player reaches settlement with school, coach

Former Southeast Missouri State University baseball player Broc Kreitler has settled a lawsuit he filed against the school and then-head baseball coach Steve Bieser over an injury he suffered during a team practice in March 2015.

Attorneys for both Kreitler and the defendants � the university and Bieser � agreed to dismiss the nearly three-year-old lawsuit Aug. 20 in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

According to the document, �all matters in controversy have been settled, compromised and adjudicated.� The attorneys stipulated the defendants would pay their own costs and attorney fees as well as up to $1,500 of plaintiff�s cost and attorney fees.

No other terms of the settlement were disclosed in court records.

This is the second lawsuit involving athletics to be settled with the university in less than a year.

Former softball coach Lana Richmond and Southeast in December 2017 settled a federal civil suit over allegations of gender discrimination and retaliation.

No details of the settlement were disclosed in court records.

But the Missouri Attorney General�s Office later reported a $90,000 settlement. According to online records of the state�s Legal Expense Fund for January 2018, Richmond received more than $45,000 including more than $15,000 for wage-related claims. Nearly $45,000 was earmarked for plaintiff�s attorney�s fees and costs, Legal Expense Fund records show.

Kreitler, who was from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, filed suit against the school Sept. 28, 2015, seeking �fair and reasonable� damages in excess of $25,000.

Kreitler, who red-shirted in 2014 and had one at-bat that year, was no longer on the team�s roster and was not enrolled in any classes at Southeast at the time the lawsuit was filed.

According to the lawsuit, Kreitler was pitching behind an L-shaped pitcher�s screen during a practice March 23, 2015, when a ball hit by a teammate bounced through a hole in the screen, �violently injuring plaintiff by striking him in the head, eye and face.�

The suit, as initially filed, claimed the university �caused and permitted the placement and use of the defective L-screen that created an unreasonably dangerous condition.�

Kreitler accused the school of �negligence,� saying he suffered �permanent and progressive injuries, including, but not limited to, closed head, facial and right eye injuries.� The suit stated Kreitler �has endured and will endure future pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and past and future medical expenses.�

The university�s attorney, Al Spradling III, said in a court document filed in 2016 that Kreitler�s injuries were caused by his own �carelessness and negligence.� Spradling wrote Kreitler failed to check the screen�s ties and straps to make sure they were properly attached.

The university said it had sovereign immunity from any liability as �the L screen was not in a defective condition at the time of the alleged occurrence,� Spradling wrote.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial in early August, but the trial was canceled in advance of the settlement.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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