Background

Plaintiff Taron Malkhashyan sues Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Punjatorn Chanudomchuck, NTMA Training Center, and The Robot Marketplace for damages arising from an explosion at a robotics competition.

As plaintiff alleges, on April 18, 2015, he participated in the NTMA Training Center Robotics League’s Regional Competition in Santa Fe Springs, California. TAC ¶ 16. The league was “a combat robotics league where High School and College students design and build remote controlled robots to face-off in competition.” Id. at ¶ 37. LAUSD entered a robot into the event but was transported, shipped, and made available to plaintiff for his use in the competition. Id. at ¶ 18. Plaintiff’s coach and teacher, Punjatorn Chanudomchuck, failed to appear at the event. Ibid. During the event but between sessions of actual operation engagement with the robot, the robot began to discharge smoke. Id. at ¶ 19. When plaintiff sought t........