By Jon King/jking@whmi.com


The Michigan appeals court has ruled against a former high school student from Fenton who sued after being injured during tennis practice.

Bradley Trecha suffered severe injuries when a ball hit by a teammate struck him in the eye at practice at Fenton High School in 2016. Trecha sued Brenden Remillard, who didn't look before hitting a ball out of frustration after losing a practice match. Trecha accused his teammate of gross negligence. In a decision released last Thursday, the appeals court says while Remillard's actions “were certainly ill-advised” they could not conclude it amounted to a willful indifference to harm.

The panel noted that the action happened at the immediate conclusion of a match and seemingly without any thought. Remillard testified that he did not know that Bradley was standing in the path of the tennis ball and that, had he known, he would not have hit the ball in that direction. The judges also remarked that Remillard had apologized to Bradley after the injury and grabbed an ice pack for him.

They concluded that while his behavior appeared to be careless, it did not indicate, “the indifference to harm necessary to show reckless misconduct.” They agreed with the ruling of a Genesee County Circuit Judge that the lawsuit should be dismissed.