Yan

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts

A. The accident In the early evening of July 24, 2018, Lulin Yan (plaintiff) was walking down the sidewalk lining Montefino Avenue in the City of Diamond Bar, California (the City). A tree limb with an approximately eight-inch diameter detached from the “upper canopy” of one of the Bradford pear trees on that street and landed on and snapped off two lower branches of the tree, which caused all three to crash down on top of plaintiff, knocking him to the ground. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where he stayed for three days. Plaintiff sustained a compression fracture to his spine. B. The City’s oversight of its trees The City owns the Bradford pear trees that line its streets, including along Montefino Avenue, and is responsible for their maintenance. As the City is home to nearly 14,000 trees of many species, it has contracted a third-party arborist to care for its inventory of trees. The contract obligates the arborist to trim the City’s trees every five years based on their location on a geographic “grid” and irrespective of species.2 The arborist also handles any tree-specific requests the City makes, and…