If you’ve been injured in an accident in Stockton and you’re already dealing with a previous injury or medical condition, you might be worried that your pre-existing condition will disqualify you from receiving compensation. Insurance companies often use pre-existing conditions as their primary strategy to deny or reduce claims, arguing that your current pain is from an old injury rather than the recent accident.
The truth is that having a pre-existing condition doesn’t prevent you from filing a personal injury claim or receiving fair compensation. California law protects your right to recover damages when an accident makes your existing condition worse. However, these cases require careful documentation and strategic legal handling to overcome insurance company tactics. Working with an experienced personal injury lawyer Stockton ensures your pre-existing condition doesn’t become an excuse for the insurance company to deny you the compensation you deserve.
What Counts as a Pre-Existing Condition?
A pre-existing condition is any injury, illness, or medical issue you had before your accident. Common pre-existing conditions in personal injury cases include previous back or neck injuries, old fractures or joint problems, arthritis, prior concussions or head injuries, chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, and degenerative disc disease or age-related wear and tear.
Even if you were managing your condition well before the accident—going to work every day, staying active, and living relatively normally—the insurance company will try to blame all your current symptoms on your pre-existing condition rather than the accident.
The “Eggshell Plaintiff” Rule Protects You
California follows what’s known as the “eggshell plaintiff” rule. This legal principle says that at-fault parties must take victims as they find them. If you were more vulnerable to injury because of a pre-existing condition, the person who hit you is still fully responsible for all the harm they caused.
If your old back injury made you more vulnerable to severe damage in a car accident, the driver who hit you is still responsible for the full extent of your injuries, even if someone without your pre-existing condition might have walked away with less damage.
Aggravation vs. Acceleration
Aggravation happens when an accident makes your pre-existing condition worse. Maybe you had arthritis that caused occasional discomfort, but after being hit by a car, your pain is now constant and severe. You’re entitled to compensation for that increased suffering.
Acceleration occurs when an accident speeds up the progression of a degenerative condition. If you had mild degenerative disc disease that would have gradually worsened over 20 years, but the accident caused it to deteriorate rapidly within months, you’re entitled to compensation for the years of quality of life you lost.
How Insurance Companies Use Pre-Existing Conditions Against You
Insurance adjusters look for any evidence of prior injuries in your medical history. Once they find something, they’ll argue your current pain is entirely from your old injury, suggest the accident was too minor to have caused your injuries, use gaps in treatment against you, and offer inadequate settlements based on the argument that they’re only responsible for a small portion of your injuries.
These tactics work on people without legal representation because most accident victims don’t know how to prove the accident genuinely made their condition worse.
Why Medical Documentation Is Critical
Detailed medical documentation makes or breaks your claim. You need clear evidence showing what your condition was like before the accident compared to how it changed after the crash. This includes medical records establishing your baseline condition, immediate post-accident evaluations connecting new symptoms to the crash, ongoing treatment records demonstrating your condition is worse than before, and medical expert opinions explaining how the accident aggravated your pre-existing condition.
How to Prove Your Accident Made Your Condition Worse
Proving aggravation requires showing clear differences between your life before and after the crash. Explain what you could do before—were you working full time, exercising regularly, managing your condition with occasional treatment? Document what you can’t do now. Get testimony from family, friends, or coworkers who’ve seen the dramatic difference. Show changes in medication or treatment needs. Provide employment records if you now have difficulty working.
The key is demonstrating that even though you had a pre-existing condition, you were managing it and living relatively normally before the accident. The sudden worsening after the crash is what you’re entitled to be compensated for.
What You Should Never Do
Don’t hide your medical history—insurance companies will discover it and use your dishonesty against you. Don’t exaggerate how well you were doing before or minimize your current symptoms. Don’t skip medical appointments or give recorded statements without a lawyer. Don’t accept quick settlements, and don’t try to handle these complex claims yourself.
What Your Claim Is Worth
You’re entitled to compensation for all the ways the accident made your life worse, including medical treatment for the worsened condition, lost wages, pain and suffering from increased symptoms, loss of enjoyment of life, and reduced future earning capacity.
An experienced attorney works with medical experts to calculate the difference between your baseline condition and your post-accident condition, then fights for compensation that reflects that difference.
Get Help from a Personal Injury Lawyer in Stockton Who Understands Pre-Existing Condition Cases
Don’t let an insurance company convince you that your pre-existing condition disqualifies you from receiving compensation. California law protects your ability to recover damages when an accident makes your existing condition worse.
At Bojat Law Group, we’ve successfully handled numerous pre-existing condition cases for Stockton residents. We work with medical professionals who can testify about causation, gather comprehensive evidence about your life before and after the accident, and fight for the full compensation you deserve.
Call us today at (818) 877-4878 to speak with a personal injury lawyer in Stockton who will fight for the compensation you deserve. We offer free consultations to evaluate your case and explain your legal options. You don’t pay anything unless we win. Don’t let the insurance company use your medical history against you—contact us now to protect your rights.
