LaMelo Ball settles lawsuit over Charlotte Hornets fan’s broken foot
Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball has settled the lawsuit accusing him of running over and breaking a fan’s foot outside the Spectrum Center in uptown.
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The case stems from an October 2023 Hornets scrimmage game where then-12-year-old Angell Joseph said Ball ran over his foot. The boy, now in his mid-teens, suffers from “debilitating” complex regional pain syndrome, court documents say.
The lawsuit was set to go to trial Monday morning after years of legal battle. The Mecklenburg County Trial Court Administrator’s Office told The Charlotte Observer the case settled.
Court documents filed last month revealed that Joseph and his family last asked Ball for $3.75 million in damages. Terms of the settlement are unclear. Court documents don’t say, and lawyers for Ball and the boy have not responded to requests for comment.
Ball and the boy have been at odds since Joseph and his mother filed their lawsuit in 2024.
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Ball has denied he ever ran over the child’s foot and at one point, the highest-paid athlete in Charlotte asked the boy and his family to pay his attorneys fees.
Joseph’s attorneys recently accused Ball of dodging their requests and rescheduling too many depositions, where attorneys could ask Ball questions ahead of trial. After hearing from the child’s lawyers, a judge ordered Ball to stop canceling the legal interviews and tell attorneys what prescription drugs, if any, he was taking at the time.
Ball’s settlement comes four months after he crashed his Hummer in uptown Charlotte and about a month after his manager and neighbor was evicted from former Carolina Panthers star Cam Newton’s apartment.
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