On Nov. 29, 2010, at around 8 or 9 p.m., plaintiff Alondra Garcia, 37, a temporary assembly worker, allegedly slipped and fell in the laundry room of her apartment complex. Garcia sued the property manager, Towne Center Property Management Inc.; the washer vendor, All Valley Washer Service Inc.; and owners of the apartment complex, JH Real Estate Partners Inc. and Coastal Ontario LLC. Garcia alleged brought premises liability and general negligence claims against the defendants. JH Real Estate Partners and Coastal Ontario were ultimately dismissed prior to trial. Garcia claimed that a washer was leaking in the laundry room, causing water to accumulate on the ground and result in her fall. She insinuated that both Towne Center Property Management and All Valley Washer Service knew that the washers would leak water and should have inspected the washers 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year. Defense counsel contended that Towne Center maintained the laundry room and that Towne Center’s vendor, All Valley, maintained the laundry equipment. Counsel also contended both Towne Center and All Valley had an inspection program, but that neither company were “on notice” of any washer leaking. However, counsel noted that All Valley did replace a water pump the day after the incident. Defense counsel argued that if there had been water on the floor, it was an “open and obvious” condition since Garcia went in and out of the laundry room three times before the alleged fall. In addition, counsel argued that Garcia’s description of falling flat on face was inconsistent with her description of the mechanics of the fall and basic physics., Garcia claimed she fell flat on her face and fractured her nose. She also claimed she injured her left shoulder and left knee, as well as sustained a closed head injury, herniated cervical and lumbar discs with an annular tear of the lumbar spine. A family member subsequently took Garcia to an emergency room on the night of the accident. She ultimately underwent a septoplasty– a corrective surgical procedure done to straighten the nasal septum. Garcia claimed that he doctors recommended a future cervical laminectomy. Thus, she sought recovery of past and future medical costs, and damages for her past and future pain and suffering. (Garcia waived any lost-earnings claim, and all of her medical bills were on liens.) Defense counsel disputed that Garcia suffered a fracture of her nose from the incident, as it was not consistent with the manner in which she described her fall. Counsel noted that a septal deviation was only discovered during surgery and, thus, it was never proven that the septal deviation was a result of the alleged incident or a prior condition. Based on this, defense counsel argued that Garcia probably needed the septoplasty prior to the subject fall. The defense’s physical medicine expert testified that, based on records from the emergency room, it did not look like Garcia suffered a nose fracture. The expert also opined that all of Garcia’s other injury claims were not related to the incident and that Garcia’s treating physicians were given a green light to run up the medical bills on a lien basis. Thus, defense counsel argued that Garcia’s medical treatment was unnecessary and unreasonable.