On Sept. 21, 2011, at or before 7:35 a.m., plaintiff Fong Yang, 16, a low-functioning special education student at Hoover High School with longstanding diagnoses of severe autism and Down syndrome, arrived at school, which is within the Fresno Unified School District, and was allowed to exit the bus with the other students. As a result, Fong ran from the bus drop-off point. Fong was known to the Hoover teachers and staff to have a history of running away from campus when he was not carefully supervised. On the first day of the fall 2011 semester, ran off campus and was found over one mile away at a school supply store. On Sept. 20, 2011, he was dropped off early by a First Student Inc. bus driver and had run over one mile before being tracked down by Fresno Police near the Fashion Fair mall, at which point he was taken by ambulance to a hospital to be checked out, but was found to be uninjured. After the September 20 incident, First Student was contacted by a teacher within the Fresno Unified School District and expressly instructed not to allow Fong to exit his bus without an aide present. The message was then relayed by the First Student dispatcher to bus driver Marvin Gersten. Despite the message being relayed, Gersten allowed Fong to exit the bus with the other students on Sept. 21, 2011, even though an aide was not present. As a result, Fong ran roughly half a block to the intersection of First Street and Barstow Avenue, where he attempted to run across Barstow Avenue in the southbound crosswalk at the western edge of the intersection. At the same time, Chevrolet Trailblazer operated by Sean Carhart was traveling east on Barstow Avenue, which was facing a green light, and failed to see Fong enter the roadway. As a result, Carhart, who was traveling at between 25 to 35 mph, struck Fong without braking, causing Fong to travel approximately 30 to 40 feet and strike his head on the roadway. Choua Yang, acting individually and as Fong’s guardian ad litem, sued the Fresno Unified School District and First Student Inc. The school district and First Student subsequently filed a third-party claim against Carhart. Plaintiffs’ counsel noted that due to Fong’s propensity for leaving campus, his teacher, as well as other special education teachers, had expressly told the First Student bus drivers not to let Fong off the bus in the mornings, unless an aide was present to greet him and take him to class. The teachers also told bus drivers not to drop off any students earlier than 7:35 a.m. because the students would have too much free time before class started at 8 a.m. In addition, counsel noted that the contract between the Fresno Unified School District and First Student required that students be dropped off no earlier than 20 minutes before their first class. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel argued that First Student and/or the school district were negligent in permitting Fong to depart his school bus unattended. Counsel contended that the personnel within the Fresno Unified School District knew Fong required an aide to be in attendance and knew the First Student bus had arrived too early on Sept. 20, 2011, but failed to have an aide greet the bus the following day. Additionally, plaintiffs’ counsel contended that First Student’s bus driver knew he needed to await the presence of an aide, but allowed Fong and the other students to exit the bus unattended. First Student’s bus driver, Gersten, testified that he was aware he was supposed to wait for an aide to greet Fong, but that he nevertheless opened the bus door and allowed all the students to exit the bus without seeing an aide. The Fresno Unified School District claimed that the fault lay primarily with First Student because its bus drivers had repeatedly been told not to allow students off its buses without an aide present. Carhart claimed that he was legally within the intersection when Fong darted out in front of his vehicle with no prior warning or opportunity to react., Fong sustained a skull fracture of the right orbital roof, a right sided epidural hematoma and various abrasions. As a result, he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he underwent radiological diagnostic studies and was observed for approximately five days before being discharged. Due to his pre-accident low-level of functioning, it was difficult to assess the impact of Fong’s on his cognitive or psychological status. However, his family members reported a marked increase in his propensity to attempt to escape their home, in self-injurious behaviors, and in a lack of responsiveness to their commands. In addition, plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Fong’s medical billings amounted to $78,512.63 and that Medi-Cal had paid $12,233.80.