Man says a runaway roulette ball struck his eye, sues casino

Leander Stocks wanted to play some roulette one night in December 2013 at Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover, Md. About midnight Dec. 15, Stocks, who lives in Washington, D.C., wagered some money at the table.
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This, according to a lawsuit, is when things spun out of control.

A casino employee spun the unwieldy wheel, which caused the hard ball to allegedly become airborne and strike Stocks just above his left eye.

The lawsuit, which Stocks first filed last November in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, states the employee was operating the device “negligently” and the initial impact “caused a sharp and severe pain followed by general disorientation.”

Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., which owns the casino, filed to dismiss the case, although a judge denied that request last week. Cordish argued that it did not actually operate the casino (the judge noted that its Web site says it owns and operates casinos) and that because the casino is in Maryland, the D.C. federal court didn’t have jurisdiction in the case (the judge said the casino advertises in the District to attract customers.)

Stocks refiled the suit last week, and added Maryland Live! Casino and Casino Resorts Maryland to the list of defendants he is suing for negligence and battery. The Washington Business Journal first reported on the suit.

Stocks further alleges that after the roulette ball struck him, a security guard took him to a private room, presumably to help him. In the room, Stocks reclined on a bench and applied pressure to the bruised area above his eye.

But for some reason, Stocks alleges, the security employee poured an unidentified liquid into his eye without permission, even though he was struck above his eye. After the liquid was applied, according to the lawsuit, Stocks experienced “immediate blurred vision, increased pain and discomfort in the affected area, overwhelming disorientation and pronounced loss of physical coordination.”

He then allegedly tried to get up, but because of the disorientation, fell forward and hit his head on a hardwood door, which caused him to lose consciousness. He went to the emergency room where he was treated for a concussion from the fall and a contusion from the roulette ball.

Since then, Stocks says he has continued to have “bouts of blurred vision, occasional loss of coordination and regular episodes of post-traumatic headaches.”

He is suing the casino for $300,000. Cordish did not respond to a request for comment.