A judge has tossed a wrongful death suit filed by a couple who sued the managers of Staples Center over the death of their 34-month-old son, who was fatally injured in a fall from the ledge of a luxury suite.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason heard arguments Friday on L.A. Arena Co.’s motion for dismissal of the case brought in May 2011 by Garden Grove residents Hoia Mi Nguyen and Henry Tang, parents of Lucas Tang.

The judge took the case under submission and later in the day granted the defense’s dismissal motion.
“The court finds that the defendants did not owe a duty to the plaintiffs to properly supervise Lucas to prevent him from falling from the luxury box suite,” Bryant-Deason wrote in a two-page ruling. “The court finds that it was not foreseeable that Mr. Tang and Ms. Nguyen would place Lucas in an openly and obviously dangerous situation by putting him on top of the beverage bar where it was easily foreseeable the he could climb over the tempered glass and fall.”
The judge also said the couple’s lawyers did not show how anything arena officials did or failed to do caused the boy’s fall.
Attorneys for Tang and Nguyen could not be reached for comment.
Michael Roth, vice president of communications for area owner AEG, said the company remains “deeply saddened by the tragic death of Lucas Tang.”
“As the court’s ruling makes clear, Staples Center did not cause this accident,” Roth said. “The court found that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that anything Staples Center did or did not do caused Lucas’ fall. The court’s ruling in favor of Staples Center, which was made after careful review of all [...]