More than two years after 6-year-old Lucy Morgan was fatally injured when part of a badminton racket broke apart during a family vacation in Maine, her parents have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the company that manufactured the equipment.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 17 in York County Superior Court, accuses Franklin Sports Inc. of selling a badminton racket that was defectively designed and manufactured and lacked adequate safeguards to prevent its metal shaft from separating from the handle during ordinary play.

Lucy died on June 5, 2024, four days after a section of the racket being used by one of her older siblings flew through the air and struck her in the head.

Her family is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages, arguing that the tragedy was not simply an unforeseeable accident but the result of a product that should have been safer.

Franklin Sports has not admitted liability. The company has expressed sympathy for Lucy’s family and said it is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A Family Vacation Changed in Seconds

The Morgan family, from New Jersey, had been spending time at a lake house in Limerick, Maine, when the accident occurred on June 1, 2024.

It was the final full day of their trip.

Lucy’s older siblings were playing badminton in the front yard while Lucy and a younger brother watched nearby. According to the lawsuit, one of Lucy’s brothers swung a Franklin-branded racket toward the shuttlecock.

During the swing, the head and metal neck of the racket allegedly separated from its handle.

The metal section became airborne.

It struck Lucy in the temple and penetrated her skull, causing a catastrophic brain injury.

Lucy’s father, Jesse Morgan, later described hearing screaming and rushing toward his children with his wife, Bethany.

They found their daughter seriously injured but still breathing.

Emergency responders transported Lucy first to a hospital in Sanford before she was airlifted to a medical center in Portland, where doctors performed emergency treatment.

Despite their efforts, she died four days later.

State authorities described the incident at the time as an unintentional injury.

Lawsuit Says Racket Should Not Have Come Apart

The Morgan family’s lawsuit now focuses on how the racket was constructed.

According to the complaint, the racket was “defective and unreasonably dangerous” because the metal stem was not adequately secured inside the handle.

The family alleges that adhesive used to join the components was insufficient and that the racket lacked a secondary restraint or other backup feature that could have prevented the metal piece from becoming a projectile if the primary connection failed.

Their attorneys also allege that consumers were not adequately warned that the racket could separate during normal use.

Those allegations have not yet been proven in court.

The lawsuit includes claims involving strict product liability, negligence, breach of warranty, wrongful death and survival damages.

Attorneys representing the family say the case is intended not only to obtain compensation but also to force greater scrutiny of how similar recreational equipment is manufactured.

They argue that parents purchasing or using a badminton set would not reasonably expect a metal component to detach during an ordinary swing with enough force to cause a fatal injury.

Lucy Was Sitting Nearby, Not Playing With the Racket

One of the most striking details in the case is that Lucy was not the person using the racket when it failed.

She was sitting nearby.

Her older siblings were playing while she and a younger brother watched from the side.

The lawsuit therefore argues that the alleged hazard extended beyond the person holding the equipment.

If a racket could separate under normal use, the complaint says, anyone standing nearby could potentially be placed in danger.

Three of Lucy’s siblings witnessed the accident.

The lawsuit seeks damages not only on behalf of Lucy’s estate but also for the severe emotional distress the family says her siblings experienced after seeing what happened.

Her Father Remembered Her as a ‘Tough Kid’

In the days following the accident, Jesse Morgan wrote publicly about his daughter and the final hours his family spent with her.

He described Lucy as energetic, expressive and resilient — a child who could be initially quiet around unfamiliar people but quickly became playful once she felt comfortable.

“She was a tough kid,” he said while remembering her.

The family had spent what they described as an especially happy week together before everything changed.

The vacation had been meant to provide time away from ordinary routines.

Instead, its final day became the beginning of four days in which Lucy’s parents remained at the hospital as doctors tried to treat a devastating neurological injury.

Jesse later wrote that the experience brought a level of fear he could barely describe.

His family’s Christian faith became a central part of how they publicly processed Lucy’s death.

Only weeks before the accident, Lucy had begun asking her mother questions about faith and had written about her beliefs in a journal.

Community Support Followed the Tragedy

News of Lucy’s death prompted an outpouring of support for the Morgan family.

Jesse serves as a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in New Jersey, where Lucy’s memorial service was later held.

A fundraising campaign established for the family drew more than $100,000 in donations as supporters tried to help with medical expenses and other needs following the accident.

The family repeatedly expressed gratitude for the assistance they received.

But public attention largely faded as the months passed.

The filing of the lawsuit in August 2026 has now brought Lucy’s case back into focus — this time less as a story about an unusual accident and more as a legal dispute over whether the accident should have been preventable.

Franklin Sports Says It Is Reviewing the Case

Franklin Sports, a Massachusetts-based sporting-goods manufacturer, has responded cautiously to the lawsuit.

The company said it could not discuss specific allegations because the litigation remains pending.

It nevertheless offered condolences to Lucy’s family and said it takes product-safety concerns seriously.

The company also said it is reviewing what happened.

No court has yet determined that Franklin Sports was negligent or that the racket contained a legally actionable defect.

That determination will depend on evidence concerning the specific product, its manufacturing process, its condition at the time of the accident and whether the company reasonably could have anticipated the alleged failure.

Experts may ultimately examine the adhesive, connection between the shaft and handle, materials used in construction and whether alternative designs could have prevented the metal component from separating.

The Case Could Focus on Whether the Failure Was Foreseeable

Product-liability cases often turn on whether a product performed as a reasonable consumer would expect and whether a safer practical design was available.

The Morgan family’s complaint argues that a recreational badminton racket should remain intact during an ordinary swing.

Their attorneys say the alleged failure transformed routine sporting equipment into a dangerous projectile without warning.

The manufacturer will have the opportunity to contest those claims, including whether the racket had been damaged, altered or subjected to conditions affecting its performance before the incident.

Publicly available information has not established those details.

For that reason, the lawsuit is likely to focus heavily on technical evidence rather than simply the tragic outcome.

Two Years Later, the Family Wants Accountability

For Lucy’s parents, however, the legal case is inseparable from what happened to their daughter.

She was six years old.

She was sitting beside a family badminton game during what had been a joyful vacation.

Within seconds, the family’s life changed permanently.

Their attorneys say one goal of the lawsuit is to ensure that no other family experiences a similar tragedy involving equipment they believed was safe to use.

The case is still in its early stages, and Franklin Sports has not been found responsible for Lucy’s death.

What has been established is the sequence that began on June 1, 2024: a racket came apart during play, its metal shaft struck Lucy, and she died four days later from her injuries.

More than two years later, her family is now asking a court to determine why that racket failed — and whether the company that made it should be held legally responsible.