Facts and Background

• Facts and Background:

  Plaintiff, an 80-year-old retiree, sustained a hip fracture on June 9, 2023, while attending her grandchild’s transitional kindergarten graduation ceremony at Mount Washington Elementary School in Los Angeles. Plaintiff and her husband encountered a locked door to the room where the ceremony was to be held. While traversing the playground area, plaintiff was knocked down by a 5th-grade student running to catch a ball during a kickball game. The injury required a total hip replacement, followed by an extended stay at a rehabilitation facility and several months of physical therapy.

• Plaintiff's Contentions:

  Plaintiff filed suit against the Los Angeles Unified School District (District), alleging that the District was negligent in scheduling the graduation ceremony during an active recess period, failing to enforce its own campus visitor policies, allowing her onto campus in violation of those policies without notifying the principal, and failing to ensure she was safely escorted to the multipurpose room, and directing her to the active playground zone.

  Plaintiff sought $1.5 million in non-economic damages, contending she suffered permanent loss of function, chronic pain, and a significantly diminished quality of life including reduced ability to travel, engage in physical activity, and participate in family activities with her grandchildren.

• Defendant's Contentions:

  The District maintained that its employees acted reasonably on the date of the incident. The defense argued that the campus was appropriately staffed during second recess, with multiple staff members covering the lower yard and adjacent areas where the incident occurred. When the Lavitts arrived early and made repeated requests for early access to the ceremony, citing mobility limitations, the front office staff responded by granting a staggered early entry.

  The District argued this staggered entry, allowing the Lavitts early entry, was consistent with reasonable ADA accommodation obligations. District provided evidence that staff provided the Lavitts with specific, step-by-step directions along a safe route that did not traverse any active playground areas, directions that proved effective, as the couple reached the multipurpose room doors without incident. The defense argued that the accident occurred only after the Lavitts made the independent decision to leave the area where they had been directed to wait and instead venture around the building into an active kickball field, an area, District argued, they were never instructed to enter and which was visibly occupied by students at play.

  Further, the defense presented evidence that the principal personally encountered the Lavitts on the yard moments before the accident and directed them to return to the office, a directive the Lavitts denied receiving but which the defense argued was corroborated by the principal's specific and detailed recollection of the interaction.

  The plaintiff's credibility was also central to the defense. District argued that plaintiff misidentified the location of the multipurpose room doors during trial testimony and provided inconsistent accounts of how long the couple waited at the locked door before deciding to proceed around the building. The Defense also highlighted that just two months after her surgery, the plaintiff completed a standard patient questionnaire reporting that pain was not interfering with her social activities or enjoyment of life, and that her husband confirmed at trial she handles all daily living activities independently and had not used a walker in recent memory.