Mets settle lawsuit with injured fan

The New York Mets have settled with a woman whose back was broken when another fan tumbled onto her in the stands in the former Shea Stadium, court records show.

Ellen Massey's case against the Mets, a beer concessionaire and the plummeting spectator was settled last month, according to court records. Court files don't detail the terms. Massey lawyer Joshua D. Kelner and Brian O'Connor, who represented falling fan Timothy Cassidy, would say only that the case was ''resolved.'' Mets lawyer Carla Varriale declined to comment.

Cassidy plummeted onto Massey from about five rows of seats above her during the Mets' 2007 opening day game against the Philadelphia Phillies, according to court papers and her lawyers. Massey, an attorney herself, was hospitalized with spinal injuries for about two weeks, her attorneys said.

Massey said the 200-pound-plus Cassidy was noticeably drunk and punchy - slurring the cheer ''Let's go, Mets!'' and trying to start fights with other fans in the stands - and that the Mets didn't provide proper security.

The team has said security was adequate and Cassidy's fall was unforeseeable. No one complained about his behavior, and it didn't attract guards' attention amid ''a rowdy, boisterous crowd,'' Varriale said at an October 2010 hearing.

Cassidy said he'd had some beers but wasn't drunk or out of line. Cassidy said he fell because he was pushed by another spectator who'd been haranguing him about using his cell phone to send e-mails during the game.

The other man, Eric Metzger, denied Cassidy's claims and said all he did was defend himself against Cassidy.

Massey had argued that whatever happened between the two men, the Mets and the beer vendor bore some responsibility for the episode, a claim they denied. She had sought unspecified damages.

Meanwhile, Cassidy, the Mets and beer concessionaire Aramark Sports & Entertainment sued Metzger. Those claims also were resolved last month, court records show.

Aramark's lawyer didn't immediately return a call Wednesday. Metzger, who represented himself, didn't immediately respond to a message left at a possible phone number for him.

Shea was supplanted by Citi Field in 2009.