On Sept. 27, 2016, plaintiff Lateisha Richard, a 41-year-old unemployed woman, was walking diagonally across Market Street, between 21st and 20th streets, in San Diego. She was struck by a vehicle operated by John Anderson. Richard was hit by the left side of the vehicle, near the front headlight, causing her to go up onto the hood and strike her head against the windshield. Her body was then thrown forward and came to rest within the left turn lane, close to the front of Anderson’s vehicle. Richard claimed to her head, back, left arm, and right leg and ankle. Richard sued Anderson and the alleged owner of the vehicle, Sarah Anderson. Richard alleged that Mr. Anderson was negligent in the operation of the vehicle and that Ms. Anderson was vicariously liable for Mr. Anderson’s actions. It was ultimately determined that Ms. Anderson was not a registered owner of the vehicle, so she was dismissed at the beginning of trial. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that Mr. Anderson was inattentive, as he was using the GPS visual display, instead of the spoken directions, on his hands-free cell phone that he had attached by magnet to his vehicle’s air vent. Defense counsel argued that Richard was inattentive and distracted as she crossed Market Street in a diagonal fashion, outside of a marked crosswalk, while talking on her cell phone., Richard sustained fractures of the right transverse processes at L2, L3 and L4, and abrasions to the left side of her face and arm. She also claimed she sustained protruding lumbar discs at L4-5 and L5-S1. Richard was taken to an emergency room and diagnosed with a closed head injury, despite a Glasgow coma scale of 15. She then saw her treating pain management specialist, who performed four epidural injections to Richard’s lumbar spine. Richard also treated with a chiropractor on four occasions. The plaintiff’s treating physician testified that Richard’s post-accident MRI showed that she had sustained lumbar disc protrusions from the collision and that he used the epidural injections to treat Richard’s lumbar fractures and disc protrusions. Richard claimed that she continued to experience residual pain in her back with radicular pain into her right leg and ankle. She alleged that her continued, radiating pain impacted her activities of daily living and her relationship with her grandchildren. Richard sought recovery of past medical costs, but was unable to establish the reasonable value of her treatment from her treating pain management physician or her treating chiropractor. However, the parties stipulated that the reasonable value of the ambulance and E.R. visit was approximately $10,000. Richard also sought recovery of future medical costs and damages for her past and future pain and suffering. The defense’s orthopedic surgery expert testified that spinal fractures are not treated with epidural injections. However, the expert opined that after Richard’s spinal fractures healed, it would be reasonable for her to undergo 24 chiropractic visits or physical therapy sessions with a cost of around $3,000. He also opined that Richard would not require any future medical care. The defense’s radiology expert examined Richard’s 2014 CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis, and opined that Richard had bulging lumbar discs at the L4-5 and L5-S1 levels. The expert also performed a side-by-side comparison of the pre-incident abdomen/pelvis CT scan and the post-incident lumbar MRI, and opined that the lumbar disc bulges were smaller post-incident in comparison to pre-incident. The expert radiologist further opined that there was no nerve root impingement that would correlate with Richard’s complaints of radicular symptoms.