On Feb. 5, 2010, plaintiff Sharlamaine Beard-Hayes, an administrative worker for the county of Santa Clara who was in her 40s, was driving on Los Gatos Boulevard, near the intersection with Kennedy Road in Los Gatos, when her vehicle was rear-ended by a vehicle operated by Noelle Schmid. Beard-Hayes claimed to her neck and left knee. Beard-Hayes sued Schmid. She alleged that Schmid was negligent in the operation of her vehicle., Beard-Hayes was taken by ambulance to a hospital. She claimed to her neck, as well as a partial anterior ligament tear to her left knee. She subsequently treated with physical therapy for two to three months and had several cortisone shots at a Kaiser Permanente hospital. Beard-Hayes claimed that the cortisone shots temporarily reduced her pain, but that she still currently has neck and knee pain. She alleged that as a result, she continues to treat with physicians at Kaiser Permanente, who have prescribed her medicine for the pain. Defense counsel contended that Beard-Hayes’ were pre-existing and not attributable to the subject accident.