On May 20, 2011, plaintiff Jimmy Cheung, 15, attended a leadership awards ceremony held in the gymnasium of Diamond Bar High School in Diamond Bar, where he was enrolled as a sophomore. He was in attendance to receive a leadership award and play trumpet in the band recital performance. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Jimmy was asked, along with several other band officers and leaders, to stay behind and help clean up the gym. Specifically, Jimmy and a fellow student were asked to clean up the floor mats that covered and protected the hardwood gym floors. Each of the mats was approximately 10 feet wide and ran the entire length of the gym, which is approximately 100 feet long. The mats were to be loaded onto a floor mat rack, designed to store three rolled up mats on each side of the rack, for a total of six mats on the rack. The rolled up mats were to be stored on the rack in a vertical array with one on top, one in the middle, and one on the bottom on each side of the rack. Jimmy claimed that he and the fellow student loaded the rack in the manner that made the most sense to them; they attached one of the mats on the rack, rolled it up and then rolled the rack down several feet to the next mat, attached it, rolled it up, and so on. After loading all three floor mats on one side of the rack, Jimmy and the other student attempted to rotate the rack to load mats on the other side. As they started to rotate the rack, one of the wheels on the end nearest to Jimmy, on the side where the three mats were stored, became stuck, causing the rack to tip over and fall to the side. The rack fell directly onto Jimmy’s right leg, causing a serious fracture to his femur. Jimmy, by and through his guardian ad litem, Linda Jimmy, sued the Walnut Valley Unified School District. He alleged that the school district failed to provide proper warnings about the rack, and failed to properly repair or maintain the rack, creating a a dangerous condition. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the rack in question had no warning or instruction signs on it indicating that it posed a tipping hazard, the correct and safe manner in which the mats should be rolled onto the rack, the order in which the rack should be loaded, or the manner in which the rack should be moved from location to location. Jimmy claimed neither he or the other student were given any instructions by the school or leaders conducting the clean-up as to how to use the rack, specifically that it should be loaded one side at a time as to avoid a tipping hazard. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that a site inspection of the rack at Diamond Bar High School, with video and photographic evidence, illustrated a significant instability of the rack, even when not loaded with any mats. Thus, counsel asserted that Walnut Valley breached its affirmative duty to take all reasonable steps to protect its students by allowing the dangerous rack to exist on school premises, by asking students to use the rack, by failing to instruct students how to safely use the rack, and by failing to ensure that proper warnings and instructions were placed on the rack., Jimmy sustained a comminuted displaced fracture of his right proximal femur shaft, with a proximal fracture fragment displaced anteriorly. He was subsequently taken from the scene of the accident by ambulance and brought to an emergency room. He ultimately underwent open reduction and internal fixation, with intramedullary nail fixation, on May 21, 2011. As a straight-A student planning to attend Stanford University, Jimmy missed the final week of his sophomore year, but was able to still take his finals on schedule. Thereafter, he completed several courses of physical therapy. Jimmy claimed he continued to experience some minor discomfort at the location of one of the nails and treated with an orthopedic surgeon who recommended surgery to remove the nail if Jimmy continued to experience discomfort over the following year. However, Jimmy claimed that his discomfort has since subsided, for the most part, and has not determined whether he will undergo future surgery. Thus, Jimmy claimed $25,953.46 (Howell amount) in past medical costs and sought recovery of damages, including $10,500 in future medical costs and an undetermined amount for his pain and suffering.