On March 27, 2011, at approximately 2 a.m., plaintiff Jahaziel Alvarado, 25, a Yogurtland manager, was arriving home from work when he parked his car in a private parking lot at 1821 S. Main Street, across the street from his apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles. He claimed that after parking his car, he attempted to close the parking lot’s padlocked sliding gate, but that while doing so, the gate came crashing down on his left leg, fracturing it. Alvarado sued the owning entities of the parking lot, Main Street I LLC and Main Street II LLC, and the apartment complex entity, Genesis 2000 LLC. Alvarado alleged the defendants’ negligent maintenance and repair of the subject sliding gate created a dangerous condition. Alvarado originally named Gary Haddack and Trinity Store Fixtures Inc. also as defendants, but they were both dismissed early in the proceedings. Alvarado contended that roughly three months before the accident, he was directed to park in the subject parking lot by Genesis and Haddack as a means to remedy parking scarcity for residents of the complex. He claimed that he subsequently paid Genesis $60 a month for parking and Genesis, in turn, transferred funds to the Main Street entities for their services. Alvarado claimed this created a joint venture between the Main Street entities and Genesis/Haddack, which made all the defendant parties liable. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that an inspection system needed to be in place so that it could provide the defendants with notice of any dangerous conditions on the premises. Thus, counsel contended that the subject sliding gate was negligently maintained and that had a reasonable inspection system been in place, the defendants would have discovered that the gate’s brackets were unreasonably dangerous. Genesis and the Main Street entities denied that a joint venture existed between them. They further denied that the sliding gate constituted a dangerous condition., Alvarado sustained a fracture of the left femur. He was subsequently taken by ambulance to an emergency room, where he underwent open reduction and internal fixation surgery the following morning. He remained hospitalized for four days and then followed up with six weeks of physical therapy. Alvarado claimed he made a good recovery from his surgery, but missed six months of work and dealt with some residual left leg pain due to weather changes for a year following the accident. Thus, he sought recovery of $57,000 in past medical costs and roughly $9,000 in past lost earnings. He also sought recovery of damages for his pain and suffering. Defense counsel did not dispute the severity of Alvarado’s femur fracture.