On April 29, 2008, plaintiff Dr. Mohommed Naji, an anesthesiologist in his 40s, was called in to Moreno Valley Community Hospital to assist in the performance of a total knee replacement. Naji claimed that while in the operating room, Dr. Anthony Fenison, the performing surgeon, sprayed him with the Lavage irrigation device that was being used for the surgery. Naji claimed emotional distress from the incident. Naji sued Fenison; the operators of Moreno Valley Community Hospital at the time of the incident, Valley Community Health Center Inc., and Valley Health System Inc.; and the current operator of the hospital, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (which was erroneously sued as Kaiser Permanente and Southern California Permanente Medical Group). Naji alleged that Fenison’s actions constituted assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and that the hospital’s owners (past and present) were liable for Fenison’s actions. Prior to trial, Valley Health System and Valley Community Health Center were dismissed for a waiver of costs, while the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals successfully demurred out of the case. Thus, the matter proceeded to trial against Fenison only. Naji claimed that the during the subject knee replacement surgery, Fenison turned to him with the Lavage irrigation device and said “heads up” before spraying him with the device. He also claimed the device may have sprayed him with blood and/or tissue from the surgery. Naji further claimed that he complained about the incident, but that the hospital took no action. Fenison claimed that he did not intentionally spray Naji with the device or say “heads up.” He also claimed that the irrigation device was prone to over-spraying and splattering, and that Naji may have been accidentally contacted by the water due to the close proximity of the operating room. Fenison’s counsel called two witnesses that were in the operating room and who testimony to Fenison’s account of the incident., Naji claimed emotional distress from the incident. Thus, he sought recovery of $50,000 in general damages. His wife, Jidh Alzoub, initially brought a derivative claim, seeking recovery for her loss of consortium. However, Alzoub ultimately dismissed her consortium claim pretrial. Defense counsel argued that Naji did not suffer any damages from the alleged incident.