On April 30, 2013, plaintiff John Guerrero Jr., 15, a high school junior and a junior varsity baseball player at La Serna High School, was participating in batting practice, which involved standing behind an L-framed pitching screen and pitching to a batter with players in the outfield. While John was standing only 40 feet from the batter, pitching behind the L-screen, a batter hit the ball directly into the right side of his head. John’s mother, Laura Guerrero, acting as her son’s guardian ad litem, sued the operator of La Serna High School, Whittier Union High School District, and La Serna’s coach, John Cabellero. As John turned 18 by the time of trial, his mother was ultimately dismissed from the case. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Cabellero and the school district had a duty to protect its students from foreseeable , but that they failed to properly supervise an activity that has a high risk of injury. Trial testimony from other players revealed that Cabellero was the only adult present at the practice and that Cabellero sat in the dugout, instead of supervising the players on the field, during a potentially dangerous batting exercise. The plaintiff’s baseball coaching expert testified that students should typically not be allowed to throw the ball to the batter during batting practice. The expert explained that throwing the ball to the batter during batting practice is not part of the game and does not help the thrower develop any skills and that throwing during batting practice is dangerous and requires specific skills that coaches are better equipped at performing. Defense counsel contended that being struck by a ball is a risk inherent to the game of baseball and that John should have been more careful, as it is typical for players to throw behind the L-screen during practices., After being struck by a hit ball on the right side of his head, John was immediately taken to a hospital, where a skull fracture was diagnosed. He was then observed at a Kaiser location for three days, and the injury was deemed a traumatic brain injury. Nine months later, John suffered a seizure and was diagnosed as epileptic as a result of the head injury. As a result, he is required to continue taking anti-seizure medication for the foreseeable future. John claimed that he continues to suffer from mild depression and anxiety arising out of the possibility of having future seizures. He also claimed that he was forced to quit playing baseball and give up his pursuit of playing college baseball. Thus, John sought recovery of $9.5 million in total damages. It was undisputed that the incident caused a traumatic brain injury that led to John’s epilepsy. However, defense counsel argued that John was malingering and that John’s symptoms of anxiety were exaggerated.