Sword Sunday #5 - legal action and bad 'Samurai Swords'

Here is an interesting story that has a little bit of everything for you.

In 2016, a couple of high schoolers were in the back yard playing with a "Samurai" sword (presumably this was nominally a katakana style weapon). Per the reports given, they were actually doing  respectable job of doing so safely, with one boy holding the weapon, and the others standing well back, and taking turns tossing water bottles so that the first kid could hit them out of the air.

Disaster, however struck when one of the boys swung the weapon, and the epoxy resin that was the only thing actually holding the blade in its grip, failed. The 26+ inch blade, which by all accounts was extremely sharp, and made of steel, flew 'at least 20 feet' [per police reports], and struck Tristan Ballinger in the forehead, penetrating his skull, and entering his brain. The resulting injury left him in  a coma for 6 weeks, and needed over a year of intensive therapy to recover from the injury.

After discovering that the weapon was made with an edge, but was only fastened to its handle with a light duty epoxy resin, despite apparently have the appearance of pin on the handle, the family filed lawsuit against the sword manufacturer; Ray International Trading Company, claiming the manufacturer was liable for $20 million due to the injuries, and a further $60 million in punitive damages. The Suit was filed in 2017.

Tristan Ballinger the day before graduation (photo from wdrb.com news )

Last year, Tristan, defying all predictions to the contrary, graduated high school with a 4.0 GRA, and played for the school's football team his senior year.

After being served with the papers for the lawsuit, Ray International Trading Company failed to respond to the suit, appear in court, or answer questions in any way. Now, with no efforts made to answer the claim in court, Judge Harold Murphy has ruled in favor of Tristan Ballinger, issuing a default judgment declaring that the company is liable for the injury and punitive damage. The amount of the judgement will be determined at a later date.


#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers. 

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