Man sues after getting hit in the mouth with golf ball

[Cass]

Weekend duffers beware: That errant golf shot could be more costly than you think.

A lawsuit recently filed in Cook County Circuit Court claims not even a call of "Fore!" could have prevented one golfer from being left with "a mouth full of false teeth," his attorney said last week.

Vito Straziota claims the poor design of the Seven Bridges Golf Club helped cause Straziota to get hit with a golf ball.

The suit says that poor design, coupled with the offending golfer, Harry Cho, not paying attention, caused Straziota to become "permanently disabled."

Now he wants unspecified damages from Cho, of Chicago, and the DuPage County golf course, which he says poorly designed the seventh hole, from the tee to the green.

"This guy hit him right in the mouth with the golf ball," said Straziota's attorney, Robert Kosin.

"The guy hit the ball too soon, but there's really not even enough room to exit your cart out there."

Straziota claims he was golfing with friends when he was leaving the seventh hole and getting back onto his golf cart. That's when Cho, teeing off on the seventh, fired his ball toward the hole.

"Cho was guilty of negligently striking his golf ball at a point in time when [Straziota] was not far enough away from the seventh green," the lawsuit claims.

As a result, Straziota was "hit with great force and violence" in the mouth with the golf ball.

The suit also says Seven Bridges Golf Club owner Woodridge Golf Club was negligent because the seventh hole was "poorly designed so it unduly exposed" golfers "leaving the green" to injury by flying golf balls.


http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-golf29.html