On July 27, 2015, plaintiff Emily Ezell, 42, a hairdresser, stopped at her local 76 gas station, in Gilroy, and went to speak with the service garage mechanic, who opened the office door outward toward Ezell and stepped out. As Ezell took a step back to allow room for the door to open and for the mechanic to step out, Ezell planted her foot on a half empty pallet of bottled water, causing her to fall backward and strike the back of her head on a metal shelf behind her. Ezell initially tried to resolve the claim herself, and the insurer for Bozzo’s Union 76 gas station, AMCO Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., tendered its $5,000 no fault medical payments limit for Ezell’s medical care, but made no other settlement offers. Then, several months before the two-year statute of limitations ran out, Ezell hired legal counsel, who made a policy limits demand on her behalf. However, Nationwide/AMCO did not respond to the demand. Thus, Ezell sued the owner of the Bozzo’s Union 76, Bozzo’s Service Inc. Ezell claimed that after she entered the mini-mart area of the gas station and asked to speak to the mechanic, she was directed toward the back office. She claimed she noticed a half empty pallet of bottled water on the floor of the mini-mart and stepped around it as she made her way to the back office door. Thus, she contended that the pallet of bottled water constituted a dangerous condition, in that the pallet was specifically a tripping hazard. Defense counsel contended that Ezell saw the alleged tripping hazard and was able to successfully avoid it on her way to the back office at the 76 Gas Station. Accordingly, defense counsel contended that the pallet of bottled water was an open and obvious danger and that if the gas station owner was liable, Ezell had significant comparative liability. One insurance adjuster stated simply, “She wasn’t watching where she was walking.”, Bozzo’s Union 76 gas station’s employees who were present at the time of the incident attended to Ezell and made sure that she was okay. Ezell never lost consciousness and, at first, she was visibly upset, but she was able to collect herself and drive home without assistance. However, later that evening, family members noticed that Ezell seemed overly emotional. As a precaution, they drove her to a hospital for an evaluation. All scans were normal, and brain scans showed no evidence of bleeding or acute trauma. Ezell was subsequently diagnosed with a concussion and she was sent home to rest. Despite the negative brain scans, Ezell claimed she never felt like herself following the fall. Shortly before the suit was filed, Ezell had undergone neuropsychological testing that revealed “major neurocognitive deficit due to traumatic brain injury,” despite the fact that no bleeding or other evidence of a brain injury was seen on any diagnostic scans. Otherwise, Ezell had no limitations/restrictions.