Facts

On April 3, 2010, Alice Villavicencio was walking on a sidewalk in San Jose when she tripped and fell on a raised portion of the sidewalk in front of a house. Villavicencio sued the owners of the house, Gilbert Sias, Peter Sias, and Margaret DeCarlo. She claimed that the defendants left the sidewalk in an unsafe condition, and should have kept the sidewalk flat or attempted to fix it.

The defendants argued that the city had planted a tree near the sidewalk, causing it to lift. As a result, the defendants claimed that the city was at fault.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contends that defendant Gilbert Sias admitted that he thought the raised portion of sidewalk constituted a hazard, and he acknowledged that the city put the legal responsibility on him to repair the dangerous condition. He even said he had talked to a contractor about making a repair, but he 'never got around to it' for financial reasons. The jury found that his maintenance was negligent, however, the treating doctor who first saw plaintiff after the fall, Dr. Dinesh Bhuva, said her injuries were so complicated he could not say that it was more likely than not that the fall caused her any injury. He had expressed a different opinion informally but when he got on the stand, he refused to give plaintiff causation. The surgeon who performed the two attempts to repair plaintiff's shoulder gave some causation.

Injuries

Villavicencio was diagnosed with a full thickness tear of her right, dominant shoulder. She underwent surgery in an attempt to repair the tear, but the surgery failed. She underwent another surgery, but found the tear was not repairable.

Result

The jury returned a defense verdict, finding that the defendants were negligent but their negligence was not a substantial factor in causing Villavicencio harm.