On June 23, 2012, plaintiff Jacqueline Mazoch, an employee in the hotel industry who was in her 40s, was a passenger in a vehicle that was attempting to exit a driveway of a parking lot on San Vicente Boulevard, in Brentwood. While her vehicle was stopped, it was sideswiped by a vehicle operated by Marc Rapaport, who was attempting to pass from behind Mazoch’s vehicle and make a right turn to exit the parking lot driveway. Mazoch claimed to her neck and lower back. Mazoch sued Rapaport, alleging that Rapaport was negligent in the operation of his vehicle. Rapaport did not dispute liability for the accident., Mazoch claimed that she sustained a cervical disc herniation at the C5-6 level and bulging lumbar discs. She was subsequently taken by ambulance to a hospital. Mazoch underwent a previous cervical fusion at the C6-7 level in 1999 and was involved in a prior accident in 2008, during which she sustained a whiplash injury. However, Mazoch claimed that the C5-6 disc herniation was caused by the subject 2012 crash. Mazoch, who lived in Texas and was in Los Angeles on vacation at the time of the collision, eventually returned to work. However, she claimed she still suffered pain in her neck. As a result, she underwent a cervical discectomy and fusion at the C5-6 level in February 2014. (She did not undergo any surgery to her lower back.) The plaintiff’sneurosurgery expert opined that Mazoch would require a future surgery on the C4-5 level. According to defense counsel, plaintiffs’ counsel urged the jury to award Mazoch’s over $1 million in damages, based on the alleged danger to the community Rapaport presented by violating traffic rules. Defense counsel disputed the nature and extent of Mazoch’s . Counsel contended that Mazoch only sustained soft tissue and that the cervical fusion was not due to the subject accident. Defense counsel argued that Mazoch likely suffered from adjacent segment syndrome due to the 1999 C6-7 surgery and that Mazoch would have required the second surgery anyway due to the degeneration.