--- title: Navy Vet Sues After 16lb Pine Cone Falls on His Head description: His attorney claims that the man deserves $5 million for the brain damage suffered from the seed pod. canonical: https://time.com/4071693/man-sues-after-16-lb-pine-cone-falls-on-his-head/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-13T17:25:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:25:57.077Z og:title: Navy Vet Sues After Giant Pine Cone Falls on His Head og:description: The San Francisco man is suing for $5 million og:url: https://time.com/4071693/man-sues-after-16-lb-pine-cone-falls-on-his-head/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Navy Vet Sues After Giant Pine Cone Falls on His Head twitter:description: The San Francisco man is suing for $5 million twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Man Sues After 16 lb Pine Cone Falls on His Head by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 13, 2015 5:25 PM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 13, 2015 5:25 PM UTC A Navy veteran is suing after a giant pine cone [allegedly fell on his head](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Man-hit-by-16-pound-pine-cone-in-S-F-park-files-6567225.php), causing brain damage in San Francisco. Sean Mace was napping and reading underneath a pine tree at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park when the 16-pound pine cone fell, according to the San Francisco _Chronicle_. Now, Mace is suing the US government, the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park for $5 million in damages. His attorney says that Mace has an irreversible brain injury, for which he has undergone two surgeries and will require a third. The grove with the tree in question has been fenced off and officials have added signs warning “Danger: Giant seed pod falling from tree.” \[[_Chronicle_](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Man-hit-by-16-pound-pine-cone-in-S-F-park-files-6567225.php)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4071693/man-sues-after-16-lb-pine-cone-falls-on-his-head/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4071693/man-sues-after-16-lb-pine-cone-falls-on-his-head/"},"headline":"Man Sues After 16 lb Pine Cone Falls on His Head","datePublished":"2015-10-13T17:25:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:57.077Z","description":"His attorney claims that the man deserves $5 million for the brain damage suffered from the seed pod.","url":"https://time.com/4071693/man-sues-after-16-lb-pine-cone-falls-on-his-head/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4071693/man-sues-after-16-lb-pine-cone-falls-on-his-head/","name":"Man Sues After 16 lb Pine Cone Falls on His Head"}}]}] ```