At around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2013, plaintiff Kobra Arghandiwal, 94, was a guest at an engagement party at the Fairmont Hotel, in San Jose, with her daughter, plaintiff Shuki Arghandiwal. The banquet room, the Club Regent Ballroom, contained an entry area/foyer, measuring approximately 11-feet by 11-feet, with pillars and curtains hemming in the three sides of the foyer, opening onto sections of the ballroom. Additionally, the room had a broad set of steps descending to the main ballroom floor. Upon entering the foyer, the Arghandiwals walked over to the top of the steps that lead down to the main ballroom floor. Other guests near the base of the steps spoke to them, and then turned away. The Arghandiwals looked out into the main ballroom, discussing where they would go sit, as the foyer area, where they were standing, became crowded with three to five other guests. While they stood near the top steps, two Fairmont employees carrying a decoration passed behind them in the crowded confines of the foyer, calling out, “Excuse me!” The Arghandiwals claimed that they were both startled and that either the employee or the object they were carrying came into contact with Kobra Arghandiwal, knocking her off balance. As a result, Kobra Arghandiwal fell down the steps and landed on the ballroom floor below. She suffered to her right hip and right shoulder, while Shuki Arghandiwal claimed she watched helplessly as her elderly mother was injured. The Arghandiwals sued Fairmont San Jose Lessee, LLC. The Arghandiwals claimed that they were both startled by a voice extremely close behind them loudly saying, “Excuse me!” Shuki Arghandiwal claimed that she was able to avoid any contact with the employee, but that her mother was not. Kobra Arghandiwal claimed that she was bumped in the back by one of the employees trying to get past her, causing her to be propelled off the steps and down into the ballroom. Plaintiffs’ counsel took depositions from Fairmont’s employees and established that the employee that eventually bumped into Kobra Arghandiwal was on his third day of the job. Counsel contended that when the employee’s supervisor asked him if he knew what had happened to the Arghandiwals, the employee initially denied any knowledge, claiming that he had been somewhere entirely else. However, in discovery and in deposition, the employee admitted that he had passed by Kobra Arghandiwal, about 5 feet away, and saw her fall. He claimed he waited until security arrived, but his manager’s testimony established that the employee did not remain present after the fall and injury. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the employee was negligent for passing too close behind the Arghandiwals while they stood atop the steps. Counsel asserted that the employee could have taken another available pathway into the ballroom, which was empty, but failed to do so, and that, instead, the employee rushed through the foyer with no adequate precaution or warning to the Arghandiwals. Fairmont denied liability, and claimed the incident did not occur as the Arghandiwals alleged., Kobra Arghandiwal suffered a comminuted, displaced, angulated fracture of the right femoral shaft and a displaced fracture of the right humerus. An ambulance arrived and subsequently took Kobra Arghandiwal to a hospital. Shuki Arghandiwal rode with her mother to the hospital, where Kobra Arghandiwal underwent immediate open reduction and internal fixation surgery to treat the fracture of the femoral shaft. Kobra Arghandiwal is widowed, but enjoys the love and companionship of her large family, including her two sons and seven daughters. She resided in Tracy with her daughter-in-law and three grandchildren, and she had a private bedroom on the second floor of the home. Kobra Arghandiwal claimed that prior to the fall, she was in excellent health and was self-sufficient. She also claimed she took daily walks of an hour or more, and liked to sew, cook, and care for her grandchildren in Tracy, as well as enjoyed traveling and socializing with her relatives. However, she claimed that as a result of her accident-related , she is no longer able to go up and down stairs on her own, and now sleeps on a day bed in the family room, which is open and exposed to the dining room and kitchen. Thus, she claimed that she has gone from being an independent and useful member of the household and her extended family, to being a burden on her family. In addition, she claimed that she has constant levels of high pain. Shuki Arghandiwal claimed that she helplessly witnessed her mother’s fall and fractures. Thus, she presented a “Dillon v. Legg,” bystander, family member claim for emotional distress. She alleged that she suffers emotional distress — including anguish, fright, horror, nervousness, grief, anxiety, worry, and shock — from witnessing her mother’s fall and .