On Jan.12, 2011, plaintiff Tsitsi Mutseta, 44, a student who came from Zimbabwe to attend San Diego State University, was returning from receiving cancer treatment and was driving in the far left lane of the Fairmont Avenue off ramp for Interstate 8 in San Diego. As traffic slowed, her vehicle was rear-ended by a vehicle operated by Larry Laks. Mutseta claimed to her neck and right shoulder. Mutseta sued Laks, alleging the defendant was negligent in the operation of his vehicle. Laks conceded liability for the accident., Initially, Mutseta did not have any symptoms after the crash. However, later that night, she presented to Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego with complaints of pain in her neck. Four months later, she claimed radicular pain in her right, dominant shoulder. In December 2012, Mutseta had an MRI that revealed tears of the rotator cuff muscles in her right shoulder. She subsequently treated with her chiropractor from the end of November 2011 and continuing to present. Mutseta also medicates her neck and shoulder pain with pain medication that she already had from her cancer treatment. The plaintiff’s family and sports medicine expert opined that Mutseta’s shoulder and neck pain were related to the subject accident. Defense counsel argued that the impact was too minor to cause any injury, and that if Mutseta had sustained any , they were only soft-tissue .