You had a bad back before the wreck. Maybe an old work injury, maybe a car accident years ago, maybe just the wear and tear of forty years of living. Now the adjuster has your medical history and they’re telling you the crash didn’t cause anything, that you were already broken.
It’s an insulting argument. It’s also one of the most common ones out there. And it’s beatable.
Texas law does not require you to be healthy
Here’s the part insurers don’t lead with. Under long-standing Texas law, a negligent driver takes the injured person as they find them. If you were more vulnerable to injury than the average person, that’s the at-fault driver’s problem, not yours. Lawyers call it the eggshell plaintiff rule.
Put plainly: nobody gets a discount for hitting someone who already had a bad neck.
What you actually have to prove
You don’t have to prove you were in perfect health. You have to connect the crash to a change in your condition. That change usually takes one of two forms.
An aggravation, meaning the crash made an existing condition worse. Or an acceleration, meaning you had something that was stable or slowly progressing and the crash sped it up or made it symptomatic.
Either one is a real, compensable injury in Texas. The question is never “were you hurt before.” The question is “how are you different now.”
How insurers build the pre-existing condition argument
Once you make a claim, they’ll want your medical history. They comb it for any mention of the same body part, then argue everything you’re feeling today traces back to that old record. Degenerative disc disease is a favorite, because a radiologist will note it on almost any adult spine imaging, and most people who have it walk around fine and pain free.
They pair that with anything else they can find. A gap in treatment. A recorded statement where you said you were fine. Then they make an offer that treats your injury as if it never happened.
Watch what you hand over
Be careful with broad medical authorizations. A request that opens your entire history for decades is a fishing expedition, not a legitimate look at the injury you’re claiming. This is one of the places where how you handle the adjuster matters most.
How you win this fight
Be honest about your history from the start
Do not hide the old injury. Ever. They will find it, and when they do, the case stops being about your back and starts being about whether you’re a liar. Disclose it and let your treating providers work with the full picture. Honesty here is not a weakness in your claim, it’s the foundation of it.
Get the before and after on paper
This is the whole ballgame. Prior medical records, prior imaging, and prior treatment history let a doctor compare where you were to where you are. If you had an MRI five years ago and a new one after the crash, that comparison can be worth more than anything you say.
Get a clear medical opinion on causation
You need a treating physician who documents, in the records, that the crash aggravated or accelerated your condition. Vague notes don’t move insurers. Specific causation language does.
Show the functional change
Records are one half. Real life is the other. What could you do before that you can’t do now? Work a full shift, lift your grandkid, sit through a drive down the Katy Freeway, sleep through the night? Statements from people who knew you before carry weight. So does documenting the change yourself.
Don’t let this scare you off your claim
Plenty of people with prior injuries assume they have no case and quietly walk away. That’s exactly the outcome the argument is designed to produce. Your history affects how the case is proved and how its value gets assessed. It does not erase your right to recover.
Keep the deadline in mind while you sort it out. Texas generally gives you two years from the crash date to file a personal injury suit under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 16.003. Some circumstances change that, so don’t work off a guess. Our page on the Texas statute of limitations has more.
We’re here to help you understand where you stand. Old injury or not, what matters is how the crash changed you.
Frequently asked questions
Can I recover money if I had a pre-existing injury before the crash?
Yes. Under Texas law a negligent driver takes the injured person as they find them. If the crash aggravated or accelerated an existing condition, that worsening is a compensable injury even though you were not in perfect health beforehand.
Should I tell the insurance company about my prior injuries?
Do not hide them, because they will surface in your medical records and damage your credibility. At the same time, be cautious about signing broad authorizations that open your entire medical history rather than records relevant to the body parts you are claiming.
How do I prove the crash made my old injury worse?
Comparison evidence is key. Prior medical records and imaging measured against post-crash records, a treating physician who documents that the crash aggravated or accelerated the condition, and proof of how your daily function changed after the wreck.
This is general information, not legal advice.
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