At around 1:35 p.m. on June 5, 2014, plaintiff Eddie Gale Stevens Jr., 72, a professional trumpet player, walked into a FoodMaxx supermarket on Parkmoor Avenue, in San Jose. Directly inside of the front door of the grocery store were large stacks of water bottles on a pallet, but next to that pallet was a nearly empty pallet. Stevens was looking to his right, away from the pallets, while turning to his left. As he took two to three steps, he tripped and fell over the nearly empty pallet. The incident was captured on video. Stevens claimed from an aggravation of a pre-existing spinal injury. Stevens sued the store owner, SaveMart Supermarkets, which was doing business as Food Maxx Supermarkets. Stevens alleged that the defendant failed to properly address a dangerous condition, causing his trip and fall. The plaintiff’s safety expert concluded that the condition was dangerous and that the conduct of the defendant fell below the standard of care in the grocery industry. During discovery, a former employee testified that he was trained that a pallet left on the floor was a hazard and that if he had seen the pallet in the condition it was at the time of the fall, he would have removed it. A current employee also testified that it was her practice to follow the mantra, “Don’t pass it up, pick it up.” She claimed that this meant that they should always be on the lookout for problems. However, plaintiff’s counsel noted that the employee was seen on the video walking past the dangerous condition 18 minutes before the fall and did nothing to remedy the problem. The person most knowledgeable for safety at the store, who also happened to be the store manager, was asked about whether he thought of customer safety when he was designing displays of products on pallets. He testified, “No. I don’t think of safety. I think of sales.” Defense counsel argued that the condition of the pallet was not dangerous and that even if it was, the condition was open and obvious, as no one else tripped over it., Stevens claimed that he suffered an aggravation to his pre-existing spinal stenosis, resulting in cervical myelopathy and autonomic hyperreflexia. Stevens did not claim any injury at the scene and went home with no complaints. However, the next day, he woke up suffering with, what he referred to as, “whole body” jerking. He subsequently went with his wife to a Kaiser facility, where he underwent X-rays, which showed nothing but degenerative changes. A few weeks later, Stevens started physical therapy. However, he claimed he continued to have body jerks, causing him to have difficulties with playing his trumpet. Eventually, Stevens was sent to neurology, where his deep tendon reflexes indicated that he had autonomic hyperreflexia, or autonomic dysreflexia, a condition in which ones involuntary nervous system overreacts to external or bodily stimuli. The treating neurologist concluded that Stevens was suffering from cervical myelopathy due to trauma on his pre-existing spinal stenosis, causing the hyperreflexia in Stevens’ upper extremities. Stevens is a professional jazz trumpeter, who had played with the likes of Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane and the great Master Sun Ra. He has recorded a number of albums and is in the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. Stevens, who is known for his extensive work and amazing story, led him to be named San Jose’s “Ambassador of Jazz,” which was bestowed on him in 1974 by then San Jose Mayor Norman Mineta. At the time of the fall, he was in the process of remaking his 1968 album “Ghetto Music.” However, Stevens’ claimed that as a result of the fall and his , his ability to play the trumpet became severely limited. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award $795,000 for Stevens’ past and future pain and suffering. (Stevens waived his special damages.) Counsel also asked the jury to award $79,500 for the loss of consortium allegedly suffered by Stevens’s wife, Georgette Gale Stevens. The defense’s neurology expert, who performed the defense medical examination, opined that Mr. Stevens should have been better in no greater than six weeks after the fall and that all of Stevens’ complaints were age-related.