On Feb. 13, 2011, plaintiff George Marquez, 64, was operating an empty tractor gas tanker for his employer. As he was traveling on northbound State Route 99, the rear end of his trailer was struck by a Dodge Caravan operated by Gary Scheppegrell, who was attempting to return to the number two lane after changing from the two lane into the number three lane. As a result, Marquez’s truck went into a partial jackknife and Marquez was required to perform a series of intense steering and gas pedal maneuvers in order to bring the big-rig tanker back under control. Scheppegrell’s Dodge Caravan was totaled, while Marquez’s trailer incurred approximately $500 in damage. The damage to Marquez’s truck included a blown out tire, metal bumper damage, and an air spring bag replacement. However, his employer was able to fix the damage for under $500. Marquez claimed to his shoulders, neck and back. Marquez sued Scheppegrell, alleging that Scheppegrell was negligent in the operation of his vehicle. Scheppegrell admitted complete liability for the accident., Marquez claimed he injured his shoulders while performing the series of steering maneuvers after his truck was struck. He alleged that his progressively led to bilateral rotator cuff tears. As he was in the course and scope of his employment, Marquez was required to first treat with a workers’ compensation provider, which he first presented to two days after the accident and continued to treat with through March 3, 2011. During that time, Marquez had three doctor visits and about six to eight physical therapy visits. Marquez claimed he had some initial relief from the physical therapy visits and thus, his employer unilaterally closed the workers’ compensation case in May 2011. However, Marquez claimed that over the course of the next few months, he continued to have pain to his shoulders. Since the employer did not advise Marquez that he had closed the workers’ compensation case, the employer told Marquez that he would get back to him about further treatment. On Oct. 3, 2011, Marquez underwent cataract surgery. However, he was terminated form his employment for making a mistake during a delivery one month earlier, so the employer would not return Marquez’s phone calls about further treatment for his shoulders. Marquez claimed that due to his former employer being unresponsive and the workers compensation system sending him from provider to provider, he did not receive the proper treatment for his after March 2011. He ultimately sought legal representation and was able to re-open his workers’ compensation claim in December 2011. Once his workers’ compensation claim was re-opened, Marquez was able to start treatment again for his alleged shoulder, neck and back . Marquez testified that he had been in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1973 and that he had been wounded in 1969, while serving in the “special forces” in Vietnam, for which he had received the Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He also claimed that he never missed work after the subject accident and that he was even able to find another job after his termination. Thus, Marquez sought recovery of $5,300 in medical expenses. He also sought recovery of non-economic damages that should calculated at the minimum wage of $10 per hour, times 16 hours per day, for the remainder of Marquez’s 15-year life expectancy, an amount that allegedly would have added up to $876,000. Defense counsel impeached Marquez with information obtained from the National Archives under the Freedom of Information Act, which showed that Marquez had never been trained as “special forces,” that he’d never been deployed to Vietnam, and that he’d only served active duty for two years, all of which was served in the continental United States. Defense counsel also argued that Marquez had never been awarded the Purple Heart or any other commendation awards related to either combat or the Vietnam conflict. On redirect, Marquez claimed that his Vietnam-related service and his airborne and special forces training, were “classified,” and that was why such information was absent from the information obtained from the National Archives. He also claimed that the information defense counsel obtained from the National Archives was not him, in any event, noting that the eight-digit service number was off by one digit (an apparent transposition error by the National Archives). Thus, Marquez contended that the information obtained from the National Archives by the defense actually pertained to another George Arthur Marquez, with the same date of birth, who entered the army in Fresno on March 2, 1967. During plaintiff’s counsel’s redirect examination, Marquez obtained and placed into evidence his original dog tags from 1967, which showed that the documents that defense counsel were attempting to use to impeach him contained someone else’s identification number and were based upon someone else’s records. The defense’s expert orthopedic surgeon opined that Marquez’s initial treatment through his workers’ compensation carrier was reasonable, but noted that there was too much of a gap in treatment until December 2011 to confirm whether Marquez’s were related to the subject accident. The expert also opined that any future surgery was unnecessary. In response, the plaintiff’s treating orthopedic surgeon testified that it would not take much for someone Marquez’s age to sustain bilateral rotator cuff . Based upon the fact that Marquez had no prior history of any complaints to his shoulders, the plaintiff’s expert opined, based upon a reasonable medical probability, that Marquez’s , which could progress from simple tears, were the result of the February 2011 incident. In addition, the expert testified that, based upon Marquez’s age, he did not believe that future surgery would be beneficial to Marquez.