One cause of action that the plaintiff could use is that Pro Bleachers demonstrated negligence . The negligence the plaintiff Roy Thomas could sue on is in the design of their bleachers and failure to warn . In discovery , the plaintiff Roy Thomas had an expert examine the broken bench section . The expert found that a weld on the metal bracketing and hinge system had broken with a clean shear . In addition , he found the railing at the side of the bleacher to have been wholly inadequate . It was only 15 inches high and far too light . It may have prevented seated fans from falling , but it was totally inadequate for people climbing to their seats . The lock mechanism was not secured at the time of the collapse , however , there is no documentation stating what the repercussions are if the lock is not secured . If it collapsed because the lock was not secured , this is a foreseeable event for Pro Bleachers and some sort of action should have been taken to prevent these things from happening