in Newswire Published on October 26, 2018

Rawlings Sporting Goods Misrepresents Weights of Youth Baseball Bats, Class Action Lawsuit Claims [UPDATE]

by Corrado Rizzi

Last Updated on May 15, 2019

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Sotelo v. Rawlings Sporting Goods Company Inc

Filed: October 25, 2018 ◆§ 2:18cv9166

• Read Complaint

A consumer claims the Rawlings bat he purchased for his son weighed roughly 2.6 ounces more than advertised.

Defendant(s)

Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc.

Law(s)

State(s)

California

May 10, 2019 – California Judge Rules Most of Lawsuit Can Proceed

U.S. District Court Judge George H. Wu has dismissed two of the six counts presented in the lawsuit detailed on this page, and allowed the four others to go forward.

In response to Rawlings’ motion to dismiss, Judge Wu struck breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment allegations from the suit yet noted that the plaintiff’s false advertising claims were clear with regard to consumers’ reliance on the sporting goods company’s representations about the weight of its bats.

A proposed class action lawsuit filed in California alleges Rawlings Sporting Goods Company uniformly misrepresents the weights of its baseball bats. Echoing a lawsuit filed in May 2018 against Easton over similar allegations, the 23-page complaint charges Rawlings’ misrepresentations pose a risk of both negative on-field performance and injury to the user and other players.

The suit revolves around how critical bat weight is to a purchasing decision and on the ball field. The lawsuit, citing the Rawlings website, explains a bat that is too heavy will substantially harm bat speed, while a bat that’s too light could prevent a player from generating the extra force needed to drive the ball. Expanding on bat weight, the Rawlings website, the suit says, explains that each bat is subject to “weight drop,” i.e., bat length minus bat weight. For higher competition leagues, the case goes on, bats will have a lesser weight drop and feel heavier.

“Because the weight drop is a function of the length less the weight, if the weight is inaccurate for the bat so, too, will be the weight drop,” the complaint adds. “Because Rawlings misrepresents the weights of its bats, the weight drops are also misrepresented."

Per the plaintiff, the suit claims the man bought for his son a Rawlings 5150 USA bat labeled and advertised as 27 inches long and weighing 16 ounces. The plaintiff says the bat “actually weights approximately 18.6 ounces,” a 2.6-ounce difference that the man argues would have been a materially deciding factor when he chose to purchase the bat.

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