OPINION AND ORDER In this case, Plaintiff Nichelle Swanson seeks damages from Defendant Schindler Elevator Corporation (“Schindler”) for injuries she sustained when she tripped and fell into an allegedly misleveled elevator at Lincoln Hospital. Before the Court are two motions filed by Schindler: a motion, pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for summary judgment, see ECF No. 41; and a motion, pursuant to Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), to preclude the testimony of a medical expert, see ECF No. 44. For the reasons that follow, Schindler’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED with respect to Swanson’s negligence claim but DENIED with respect to her res ipsa loquitur claim; and Schindler’s motion to preclude is DENIED. BACKGROUND Unless otherwise indicated, the following facts are undisputed. A. The Incident Swanson worked as a clerical associate at Lincoln Hospital for eighteen years until her retirement in January 2019. ECF No. 43-1 (“Swanson Dep.”), at 27. On September 28, 2018, Swanson returned to the hospital after picking up her lunch and called an elevator. ECF No. 52 (“Pl.’s Rule 56.1 Response”), 2. As Swanson entered the elevator, she “looked down” and observed by “approximation” that the elevator car was raised “2 to 3 inches up” from the floor level. Swanson Dep. 73, 78, 81-82. By the time she noticed the alleged misleveling, however, it was “too late.” Id. at 78. Swanson tripped and was “thr[own] [] in the elevator.” Pl.’s Rule 56.1 Response 5; see also Swanson Dep. 73. She struck her head on the wall of the elevator; as a result, she became dizzy and “couldn’t say anything.” Swanson Dep. 85-87. Jasmine Padilla, a hospital employee who greeted visitors, checked identification, and gave directions in the lobby, “responded to the elevator bank” after she heard a “bang.” Pl.’s Rule 56.1 Response 10; ECF No. 43-8 (“Padilla Dep.”), at 13, 29-30. Padilla found Swanson “on the floor” and observed that the floor of the elevator car was “unlevel[ed]” with the lobby floor — although she does not remember the degree of misleveling. Pl.’s Rule 56.1 Response 11; Padilla Dep. 11. Padilla then filled out a police report form, stating that Swanson “had trip [sic] coming into the elevator due to the elevator not being level with the floor.” ECF No. 43-9. Later that day, Waleska Olmeda, Swanson’s supervisor, signed an incident report on which someone had “already” written that “[t]he elevators need to be fixed because uneven level of elevator.” ECF No. 43-2, at 2; see Swanson Dep. 108; ECF No. 43-10, at 33-34. Shortly after the incident, Swanson was seen in the hospital’s emergency room. An x-ray revealed no “abnormalities” in her right hand, right knee, and lumbar spine, other than “moderate degenerative changes.” ECF No. 47-5, at 4-6. The next day, Swanson went to the emergency room at Pocono Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with “acute head injury, acute left knee sprain, and acute lower back sprain.” ECF No. 47-6, at 39. X-rays revealed “no facial bone fracture,” “no evidence of an acute fracture of the cervical spine,” “[n]o acute intercranial hemorrhage,” and “[n]o evidence of acute fracture or dislocation” in the right forearm and knee. Id. at 4-12. Swanson alleges that, as a result of her fall, she had to be treated with a concussion specialist “every three months or every six months,” Swanson Dep. at 207-08; stopped driving and had to retire due to memory problems, see id. at 185-87, 236; and experienced new pains in her shoulder and knees, see id. at 178-79, 227-28. Prior to the incident, however, Swanson had been diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia and suffered from associated headaches, memory problems, and dizziness. See ECF No. 47-9, at 61, 66. She had also undergone knee surgery in 2011, and was diagnosed with lumbar radiculopathy in 2017 and with tibial posterior tendonitis in 2018. Id. at 114-17, 125-26; see also ECF Nos. 47-8, 48-9 (Swanson’s prior medical history). B. Schindler’s Maintenance of the Elevator Schindler maintained Lincoln Hospital’s eighteen elevators; the company assigned Anthony Kucic to the hospital as its full-time, on-site elevator mechanic. Pl.’s Rule 56.1 Response
