$6.1 Million Jury Verdict for Breach of Contract Claim Against University

Jury verdict on behalf of Baum, a Traverse City-based composite-bat maker and manufacturer of the Baum Hitting Machine, sued University of Massachusetts in U.S. District Court over breach of license agreement and money damages.

Baum had originally sold and licensed the machine, one of only two in existence, for $350,000 to UMass' Baseball Research Center in December 1998. Part of the license stated that no commercial testing was to be done by the university, and the school couldn't modify the machine in any way.

But in late 1999, Baum found out that UMass breached the agreement by letting bat manufacturers use the machine to test and retest aluminum bats in order to meet Ball Exit Speed Ratio (BESR) standards. BESR is a formula calculated from the results obtained by Baum's machine, and all non-wood bats used by the NCAA and all high schools who are members of the National Federation of High School Associations must have BESR certification.

UMass charged the companies $5,000 per day for the machine's use, and tinkered with the machine to allow such testing to go unnoticed by Baum.

Baum formally terminated the agreement in January 2000, and under the contract, UMass was to turn off the machine. The school refused, claiming there was no breach of agreement. A jury found otherwise and awarded Baum 6.1 Million in breach of contract damages.