On April 25, 2010, plaintiff Dominic Ramirez, 9, was playing with a piece of metal rebar that was protruding from the ground on the property where he lived with his family in Temple City. Dominic was pretending that the rebar was a dinosaur and that he would defeat it. As he was pushing the rebar toward the ground, he slipped, causing the rebar to rebound and strike the left side of his face. Dominic claimed the rebar hit him in the nose, causing him difficulty with breathing. Dominic’s mother, Cathy Ramirez, acting as her son’s guardian ad litem, sued the landlord/home owner, Lori Peng. Ramirez alleged that Peng failed to properly maintain the property by removing the rebar, creating a dangerous condition. Dominic’s father claimed that he contacted Peng to complain about the rebar several times after the family moved into the house. He alleged that he noticed the rebar and felt it was a hazard, but that Peng never returned his calls. Peng denied knowing about the rebar or ever being told about it. She queried that if Dominic’s father believed the rebar was a hazard, then why didn’t he remove it himself, since Dominic’s father had taken liberties by constructing other unapproved structures on the property. Defense counsel contended that Dominic’s father never told Peng about the rebar, even though Peng would go to the property once a month in order to collect rent. Counsel also contended that Peng authorized other, more expensive, repairs to the property, such as having the hot water heater replaced, so Peng certainly would have agreed to have the rebar removed. In addition, defense counsel noted that Dominic’s father had construction experience, so he should have been able to remove the rebar himself., Dominic was taken to an emergency room where he received CT scans of his facial structure and four stitches in his left eyelid. He was ultimately diagnosed with a blowout fracture of the floor of his orbit and a fracture of the anterior wall of the maxillary sinus. His vision was not affected. Dominic claimed the rebar also struck him in the nose, causing him to have breathing problems. Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award Dominic $250,000, but also told the jury that the sky was the limit and that it could award Dominic $1 million, if it wanted to. Defense counsel noted that the plaintiff’s otolaryngology expert examined Dominic and diagnosed him with sinusitis. Thus, defense counsel argued that sinusitis is not caused by trauma, but is a condition that one is born with or that develops over time. Additionally, counsel argued that Dominic admitted in deposition that he had breathing problems long before the subject incident, though his parents denied that.