On Aug. 26, 2011, plaintiff Christine Lesko, an unemployed woman in her 40s, was walking on a pool deck in an apartment complex in the city of Glendale. As she headed toward her son, who was in the indoor pool, she tripped on a drainage culvert that was surrounding the pool. Lesko claimed to her neck, back and left ankle. Lesko sued the owners of the apartment complex, Luis Carvajal and Gracela Carvajal, individually and as trustees of the Carvajal Family Trust. Lesko claimed the defendants failed to properly repair and/or maintain the area around the pool, creating a dangerous condition. The court ordered the dismissal of the Carvajals, as individual defendants, after concluding that only the trust could be held liable as a matter of law, and the matter continued against the Carvajal Family Trust only. Lesko alleged that she was walking normally and that a person typically doesn’t get injured walking normally around a pool. However, she claimed the drainage culvert had sloping sides and was unsafely deep. She also claimed that the area was poorly lit and that there were no special markings or colors on the culvert to make it stand out from the rest of the floor. The plaintiff’s accident expert testified that the culvert was 1.2 inches deep and that it had a non-trivial defect that made it dangerous. The expert specifically stated that there should have been colored strips on the swale to make it easier to see. Defense counsel maintained that the pool was reasonably safe and that there had been no other at the pool since it opened 50 years earlier. Counsel further maintained that the culvert was an open and obvious condition. Defense counsel additionally attacked Lesko’s credibility by noting that Lesko changed her story during the duration of the litigation, claiming that Lesko was inconsistent about where she was on the pool deck when she fell. Counsel also noted that Lesko admitted that she was not paying attention to where she was walking and that she was, instead, focusing on her son in the pool. In addition, defense counsel argued that Lesko had entered and exited the pool earlier that day and that she should have known about the presence of the culvert. The defense’s safety expert testified that the culvert was less than one inch deep and opined that it was not unsafe., Lesko claimed she suffered with a non-displaced fracture of her left ankle and a herniated lumbar disc. She also complained of neck pain. After her fall, Lesko was placed in an ambulance, and she was transported to Glendale Adventist Medical Center, in Glendale, where she underwent an X-ray. She was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of her left ankle, which was placed in a splint. She was then released the same day. Lesko was mostly unable to walk while her ankle was in a splint. Over time, the fracture in her ankle became non-displaced, causing the need for open reduction surgery approximately one or two months after the incident. Lesko then underwent one year of physical therapy. Lesko made multiple additional trips to the emergency room after the fall due to continued complaints of pain in her ankle, back and neck. She underwent an MRI of her back because of her complaints of back pain and it showed a lumbar disc herniation. (She never underwent an MRI of her neck.) Lesko claimed that she was ultimately left unable to walk and that she now requires the use of a scooter or wheelchair to get around. She alleged that she planned to start a new job as a grocery store clerk a few weeks after the fall, but that due to her condition, she is no longer able to work. She also alleged that she is unable to take her children on trips as she had before the accident. The plaintiff’s expert orthopedic surgeon, whom Lesko met in around August 2017, diagnosed Lesko with complex regional pain syndrome. The surgeon explained that CRPS, also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy or causalgia, a chronic pain condition, is why Lesko can no longer walk. Lesko sought recovery of past and future lost earnings, and non-economic damages for her past and future emotional distress. Defense counsel maintained that Lesko’s back injury was the result of pre-existing degeneration and noted that Lesko went to the emergency room multiple times for neck and back problems prior to the subject fall. Counsel also contended that Lesko had not worked for several years and argued that there was no evidence that Lesko was about to start a new job at the time of the fall. The defense’s expert orthopedic surgeon opined that Lesko did not have CRPS and that there was no reason Lesko would be unable to walk.