On April 9, 2015, plaintiff Gillian Van Muyden, 59, an attorney, was at O’Deli Café, a cafeteria and lunchroom located on the sixth floor of the California State Capitol Building, in Sacramento. She tripped on the walkway and fell over a 24 pack of 20-ounce plastic soda bottles. She claimed to her neck and throat. Van Muyden sued O’Deli Café, which was owned by Dam Khan and Stephanie Khan, and the owner and operator of the capitol building, the state of California. Van Muyden alleged the defendants were negligent in their maintenance of the store, creating a dangerous condition. Specifically, she claimed the defendants should have been more diligent in their control of the restaurant and should not have placed the pack of soda in the walkway. Defense counsel asserted that Van Muyden was inattentive and that Van Muyden would have seen the open and obvious condition if she was watching where she was going., Van Muyden claimed sprains and strains to her neck, which allegedly affected her throat. She claimed that after the accident, she suffered from soreness and stiffness to her neck and upper back, which caused weakness in, and loss of control over, her vocal chords, causing her to have problems singing. Van Muyden claimed that her affected her ability to smoothly switch from chest to head voice and from head to chest voice (her upper and lower registers). Van Muyden, who sang for most of her life, joined a lawyers’ choir group in southern California 1.5 years before the subject incident and began taking weekly voice lessons. She claimed her voice coach noticed a hitch in her register between F and F sharp and that it became a source of frustration for her when singing. She claimed that as a result, she will require ongoing therapy for her neck and voice. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the cervical sprains and strains caused a difference in Van Muyden’s voice. The plaintiff’s voice and speech pathology expert, who is a vocal therapist and singing voice specialist, opined that Van Muyden’s neck muscles were impacted and that the injury caused a change in Van Muyden’s voice. The plaintiff’s otolaryngology expert, a workers’ compensation appointed physician, opined that because Van Muyden had no problems before the accident, but had problems after the accident, that it must be related to the fall. Van Muyden sought recovery of economic damages for her future medical costs. (She waived her past economic damages.) She also sought recovery of non-economic damages for her past and future pain and suffering. The defense’s otolaryngology expert opined that there was no impact to the muscles in the front of Van Muyden’s neck, which the expert testified he would have expected for Van Muyden to suffer a vocal change. The expert opined that as a result of his findings, Van Muyden’s vocal issues were not related to any she may have sustained from the subject trip and fall and that Van Muyden’s vocal change was probably due to more hormonal issues, such as menopause, of which she was at the appropriate age.