At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2009, plaintiff Concepcion Mancilla, 56, a housekeeper, was buying a toy for her son at a Wal-Mart store located on College Boulevard in Oceanside. As she approached the register in the garden section, she slipped and fell on spilled hair gel, landing on her right hand and causing her wrist to fracture in two places. Mancilla sued Wal-Mart Inc. She alleged the defendant negligently maintained the area and failed to warn of a dangerous condition. She also alleged that the defendant had actual notice of the condition. Mancilla claimed that before she approached the register, a child in another customer’s cart tossed a container of gel onto the floor. She alleged that the customer then left the area to go tell an employee about the spill and to get a roll of paper towels. However, Mancilla claimed that the employee never cleaned the spill because she was too busy and left the customer to clean her own child’s spill. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that surveillance footage showed the customer attempting to clean the spill, but, instead, spread the spill around over the course of two minutes. Counsel contended that the footage then showed the customer walking away from the spill as Mancilla approached just a few seconds later and slipped on the gel. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that in the time the employee handed the customer a roll of paper towels and learned of the spill, and when Mancilla fell, the spill could have either been cleaned or blocked off by a Wall-Mart employee. Counsel further contended that the video showed Wal-Mart employees and management arrive less than one minute after her fall, so they certainly could have arrived in less than two minutes after knowing of the spill. Mancilla claimed that despite Wal-Mart’s policy to take written statements of witnesses and employees after an accident, the defendant did not write its employees’ statements, witness statements, or even the name of the customer whose child caused the spill, despite video capturing conversations with the employee and the customer with management. Wal-Mart denied having any notice of the spill in question, claiming that it may have known about a prior spill, but that the child threw an object out of the cart two more times and that each time required a separate notice. Wal-Mart also claimed that rolls of paper towels were abundant in the area, so the customer could have grabbed the paper towels from any of three areas. In addition, Wal-Mart claimed that its former employee was not clear about whether she handed a roll of paper towels to a tall man with a beard or the female customer depicted in the video. However, the employee said she was 90 to 100 percent sure she handed a roll of paper towels to somebody and was told of a spill just before she heard Mancilla thud to the floor. The employee claimed she told Wal-Mart management on the day of the incident, and thereafter, that she was told about the spill, yet Wal-Mart continued to deny notice., Mancilla was taken by ambulance to an emergency room, where she underwent X-rays that revealed two fractures of her dominant, right wrist. Specifically, she sustained an ulnar styloid fracture with an ulnar nerve displacement of her right wrist, as well as a radial fracture that was slightly malaligned. Mancilla was originally placed in a full arm cast, but she ultimately required surgery for a displaced nerve as a result of the fractures. She also treated with a chiropractor for four months and underwent a NCS/EMG that revealed a right median nerve root entrapment. Despite surgery and subsequent treatment, Mancilla claimed she has developed a trigger thumb on her right hand, and ongoing pain and numbness in her right wrist. She claimed she is currently working full-time, but changed jobs from full-time laundry to full-time housekeeping, as it is lighter duty. The plaintiff’s expert orthopedic surgeon opined that Mancilla will require a release surgery to treat her trigger thumb. The expert also testified that Mancilla will require a right wrist radiocarpal fusion and radial osteotomy with wrist denervation. In addition, the expert opined that Mancilla will lose about half of her wrist range of motion if she has the fusion surgery. Mancilla claimed $36,271.08 in past medical costs (stipulated per the Howell reduction). She also sought recovery of $21,100 in damages for her future medical costs (consisting of the two surgeries), $21,178 in damages for her past lost earnings, $10,432.80 in damages for her future loss of earnings, and $250,000 to $400,000 in damages for her past and future pain and suffering. Defense counsel argued that it was the other customer’s child who caused the plaintiff’s damages. The defense’s expert orthopedic surgeon testified that it was reasonably certain that Mancilla would need two future surgeries that could be done at the same time, and a trigger thumb and radial carpal fusion. However, according to plaintiff’s counsel, the defense’s expert testified at deposition that Mancilla needed three separate surgeries.