LIABILITY COVERAGES
$ 15.8 Million
Premises Liability Loss
In November 2021, a 9-year-old boy was attending another child ' s birthday party at the sports entertainment chain, Topgolf in Hillsboro, Oregon, when he was struck in the head with a golf club and suffered lasting injuries.
Case Details
lasting injuries. According to the venue’ s surveillance footage from the event, the boy was moving back and forth between designated putting areas and tossing golf balls onto the driving range. In the process, the boy crossed a red safety line intended to warn guests to maintain ample clearance for those actively swinging their golf clubs. When the boy crossed the line, he ended up directly behind another child who was mid-swing. Seconds later, this child finished swinging his club and accidentally struck the boy in the forehead with significant force.
Factors That Led to the Verdict
According to court records, the incident left the boy with multiple severe injuries, including an open depressed skull fracture, orbital roof fracture, cerebral hemorrhage, and traumatic brain injury( TBI). These injuries had to be treated with emergency neurosurgery, with three titanium plates
Compliance Considerations
being placed in the boy’ s skull. In the years since the incident, the boy continues to face challenges from his TBI and surgical procedure, including chronic headaches, mood swings, anxiety, and a prominent facial scar.
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Risk Mitigation Measures
In 2023, the boy’ s mother filed a lawsuit against Topgolf, alleging that the company was liable for the hazardous conditions and lack of oversight at the venue which, in turn, contributed to her child’ s injuries and ongoing suffering. Specifically, the lawsuit claimed that Topgolf staff failed to provide the required venue tour and safety briefing at the start of the birthday party, which would have explicitly instructed guests to stay behind the red safety line to avoid being struck by swinging golf clubs. Several testimonies during the legal proceedings also revealed that similar incidents had occurred at
Topgolf locations over the years, and the company had been told by a safety expert to consider installing additional safeguards( e. g., barriers and dedicated staff to supervise putting areas) to protect guests from swinging clubs going forward, none of which the company decided to implement. Topgolf’ s attorney argued that the red safety line and recurring audio announcements reminding guests to stay behind it demonstrated that the venue had taken clear precautions to prevent potential injuries, and that the birthday party hosts were ultimately in charge of supervising the children at the event.
In September 2025, a federal jury determined that Topgolf was 97 % responsible for the boy’ s injuries, while the birthday party hosts were 3 % at fault.
As a result, the jury awarded $ 12.5 million for the child’ s continued pain and suffering and $ 3.3 million in economic losses for the boy’ s mother, generating a total verdict of nearly $ 16 million. Altogether, this verdict emphasized the heightened standard of care expected from businesses that provide
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