On Nov. 7, 2011, plaintiff Kendall Williams, 36, a self-employed tractor-trailer truck driver, was taking a break during his truck route on the property of a Chevron station, owned by Gil Sidhu Chevron, in Dixon. After getting a cup of coffee, Williams was walking back to his truck when he fell into an open storm drain that had no grate covering it. Williams sued Gil Sidhu Chevron and the original owner of the corporation, Pritam Sidhu. He alleged that the defendants were negligent for failing to properly maintain the property and for failing to warn of the open storm drain, creating a dangerous condition. Williams claimed that there was a Plexiglas sign on the ground covering and hiding the hole, and that when he stepped on the Plexiglas, his foot broke through the sign. The plaintiff’s engineering expert testified as to the types of ways a storm drain could be built and opined that the property should have covered the storm drain in question with a grate. Defense counsel noted that Williams had often used the property as a break stop during his routes and had been in the store over 200 times. Counsel contended that when Williams was returning to his truck, he walked up on the curb area, where it was grassy and the drain was located, and should not have been in the location of the storm drain. Defense counsel acknowledged that that the open storm drain was a dangerous condition, but argued that it was open and obvious. Counsel also argued that Williams should have watched where he was going. Williams responded that he walked up on the curb area because he was going around an idling truck stopped at the curb. However, defense counsel asserted that Williams could have walked on at least four feet of blacktop surrounding the truck that was allegedly blocking the store’s entrance., An ambulance took Williams to an emergency room, where an X-ray was taken of his left leg. The X-ray revealed that the leg was not be broken, and it was determined that Williams had sustained a bruise on his lateral left thigh. As a result, he was given crutches. Three hours after being discharged from the hospital, Williams’ wife drove him back to the scene and Williams allegedly used his crutches to continue his route. Even though he lacked health coverage, Williams eventually made a medical appointment to be seen 21 days post-incident. However, his first medical evaluation since the accident was an emergency room visit for neck pain. An MRI in November 2011 revealed herniated lumbar discs at L4-5 and L5-S1, while an EMG was positive for nerve damage in his left leg. Williams was subsequently treated for lower back and leg pain, including undergoing a course of physical therapy until February 2011. Williams claimed he continued to work reduced routes and missed some work for a period of three weeks following the accident. He then ceased working because he claimed he was in too much pain. Williams never returned to work and claimed that he would have to be retrained. He claimed that as a result, he would suffer a wage loss of $770,000 over his lifetime. The plaintiff’s physical medicine and radiology experts both opined that Williams would likely need a lifetime of physical therapy treatment, nerve blocks, epidural injections, and either a disc replacement or fusion in the next 10 to 15 years. Thus, Williams, who was the father to five young children, sought recovery of damages for his past and future wage loss, future medical costs, and past and future pain and suffering. Williams’ wife, Uvanda, originally presented a derivative claim, but she was ultimately dismissed prior to trial. Defense counsel argued that due to the time frame, there was no correlation between Mr. Williams’ fall and the herniated lumbar discs or sciatic nerve damage. Counsel contended that something else caused the alleged neck pain because no physicians claimed that Mr. Williams’ neck injury was caused by the accident. Accordingly, defense counsel argued that whatever caused Mr. Williams’ neck pain also caused his lower back pain. The defense’s neurosurgery expert testified that there was no evidence that Mr. Williams’ herniated discs were caused by the fall. Defense counsel conceded that Mr. Williams’ bruise on his thigh, which subsequently healed, was caused by the incident.