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OFF BEAT: Woman phails to phind phun in Phillie Phanatic's phollies

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It seems that Philadelphia's reputation as a tough sports town might not be a reflection of its rabid fan base alone. Apparently, the mascots can get pretty rowdy as well.

A lawsuit filed in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas on Monday accuses the “Phillie Phanatic”—the green, furry alien-looking creature that's been patrolling the stands at the Philadelphia Phillies' baseball games since 1978—of permanently injuring an Abington, Pa., woman by tossing her into a hotel pool in July 2010.

In her suit, Suzanne Peirce claims she was sitting in a poolside lounge chair at the Golden Inn Hotel & Resort in Avalon, N.J., watching the Phanatic entertain guests at her sister's wedding when, during his routine, the mascot lifted her and the chair together and tossed them into the pool.

The suit accuses the Phanatic of negligence for not warning her that he was about to throw her in the pool and not considering the injuries he might cause, among a dozen other alleged failures or actions.

According to court documents, Ms. Peirce claims to have suffered a slew of “permanent injuries to her head, neck, back, body, arms, legs, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and tissues.” Those injuries, according to the suit, include a herniated disc in her back, as well as “aggravation and/or exacerbation of all known and unknown pre-existing conditions, internal injuries of an unknown nature, severe aches, pains, mental anxiety and anguish and severe shock to her entire nervous system.”

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Ms. Peirce claims her injuries have prevented her from her “usual and daily activities and duties,” and have cost her “large sums of money” for medical care. Her suit requests compensatory and punitive damages.

Exactly who will answer for the Phanatic's alleged transgression is unknown. Matt Mehler and Tom Burgoyne, both named as defendants in the lawsuit, share duties playing the Phanatic at ballgames and other events. In her claim, Ms. Peirce admits that she does not know who was in the costume at the time of the incident, and that might even have been “another currently unknown and unidentified individual.”

The suit also names the Phillies ballclub and the Golden Inn's owners for failing to properly monitor the Phanatic's routine.