On Feb. 6, 2015, plaintiff Kristal Vaughn, 45, a massage therapist, was driving a Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicle on Jefferson Street, in Oceanside, when she was rear-ended by a taxicab being driven by Antoine Abikhalil. Vaughn claimed of her neck. Vaughn sued Abikhalil and the taxicab’s owner, North County Transportation Services Cooperative Inc. Vaughn alleged that Abikhalil was negligent in the operation of her employer’s vehicle and that North County Transportation Services was vicariously liable for Abikhalil’s actions during the course and scope of her employment. Vaughn claimed that after she stopped at a stop sign, she slowly proceeded forward, but stopped again to yield to oncoming traffic. She alleged that Abikhalil was following her vehicle too closely and struck her. Abikhalil conceded liability for the accident, and the matter proceeded to a trial on the issue of causation and damages., Vaughn claimed that she sustained herniated cervical discs at the C3-4, C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7 levels. She did not seek immediate medical attention after the impact and she proceeded to go shopping, as she planned earlier that day. However, shortly after the crash, Vaughn presented to a number of specialists with complaints of pain that stemmed from her neck. An MRI of her cervical spine showed herniations of four discs in her cervical spine, as well as degenerative changes. She subsequently treated her conservatively for more than one year, and received a combination of chiropractic, orthopedic, neurological, and physical therapy treatments. Approximately 16 months after the accident, Vaughn underwent a four-level cervical fusion. Post-operatively, she resumed conservative treatments for an additional four months. Vaughn testified that her neck was turned to one side at the time of the impact, which made her more susceptible to sustaining a serious injury than if she had been facing forward, when the discs in her neck would be straightly aligned. Vaughn conceded that, prior to the accident, she had undergone minor chiropractic treatment, but that she had never complained of persistent neck pain before the crash, as reflected in her medical history and records. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel argued that Vaughn’s neck were traumatically induced by the force of the rear-end impact and that any degeneration that was detected in MRI imaging studies was secondary to, and became symptomatic because of, the incident. Vaughn claimed that she recovered well after the accident and that she would not require any additional medical treatment after undergoing neck surgery and a brief post-surgery regimen of physical therapy. Vaughn claimed that although her past medical expenses were in excess of $489,000, she was entitled to a reasonable recovery of approximately $404,000 in past medical expenses related to the incident. Thus, she sought recovery of more than $1 million in total damages. Defense counsel denied that Vaughn’s were related to the accident and argued that Vaughn’s cervical were caused by a pre-existing, degenerative condition. They also argued that the trauma of the accident could not have caused the extensive that Vaughn alleged and that the four-level cervical fusion was not a by-product of the low-impact collision. Defense counsel contended that had Vaughn been as severely injured in the accident as she claimed, Vaughn would have sought immediate medical attention from an emergency room and would not have resumed shopping. Abikhalil and North County Transportation Services claimed the property damage to the taxi as a result of the collision totaled $5,000. The defense’s expert biomechanical engineer opined that the force of the load in Vaughn’s neck were analogous to, or less than, the force generated by colliding bumper cars at an amusement park. Thus, the expert opined that the trauma was insufficient to have caused the alleged. The defense’s biomechanical expert testified that, based his analysis of the taxicab’s event recording device, the change in velocity of the taxicab (Celta-V) was 3.5 and that it was insufficient to have caused four herniated discs in Vaughn’s cervical spine. The defense’s expert neurosurgeon opined that the accident was not the proximate not cause Vaughn’s cervical and that Vaughn’s were the result of natural degeneration. Thus, defense counsel argued that a reasonable amount for the jury to award Vaughn for her past medical bills ranged from $66,000 to $84,000 and that any expenses beyond the latter amount were for excessive and unnecessary treatment.