A shoulder repair from 2018 healed. You went back to work, back to the gym, and stopped thinking about it. Then a driver runs the light at Sahara and Decatur, and the shoulder that gave you no trouble for six years will not lift a bag of groceries.
Adjusters have a name for this file. They call it a pre-existing condition case, and the number in their heads drops the moment the old records arrive. Nevada and Arizona law takes a different view.
One question decides these cases: what changed?
An aggravation claim is not about whether you were healthy before. It is about the difference the accident made.
Two people can hand a doctor identical MRI results and hold very different claims. The one whose disc stayed quiet for six years has a strong case. The one already in weekly treatment for the same pain has a harder case, though far from a hopeless one, because worsening can still be shown on top of ongoing care.
So the file gets built as a comparison. Where were you the week before the crash, and where are you now? Every piece of useful evidence in these claims answers one of those two questions.
How an aggravation case actually looks
Take a delivery driver with a lumbar fusion from 2020. She returned to full duty, lifted heavy boxes daily for three years, and saw no doctor about her back in all that time. A rear-end collision on I-15 leaves her with pain running down one leg. New imaging shows trouble at the level just above the fusion, a known complication after that surgery. Her surgeon says the collision accelerated it.
Her claim is not the fusion. Her claim is the second surgery she now faces, the months she cannot lift, and the wages lost in between. The defense will argue that the level above a fusion breaks down on its own over time. Three years of full duty with no treatment is the answer to that argument.
That is the shape of nearly every one of these cases. The old injury sets the starting line. The accident is measured by how far past it you were pushed. Working with top accident and personal injury lawyers can help you understand how medical history, causation, treatment, and financial losses may affect a claim.
What the eggshell rule does and does not do
Courts in Nevada and Arizona follow what is commonly called the eggshell plaintiff rule, or the thin skull rule. A negligent party takes the injured person in the condition that person was actually in. No discount applies because you were more fragile than average.
The rule defeats one specific argument: that a healthy stranger would have walked away, so you should have too. It does none of the remaining work. You still carry the burden of proving the accident caused the change, and you cannot collect for the condition you already had.
Older adults and people with prior orthopedic surgery run into this most often. Questions about shared responsibility tend to arrive at the same time, and we covered how fault gets divided in our post on whether drivers are always at fault in pedestrian accidents.
The first 30 days shape the file
Most of what decides an aggravation claim happens long before anyone discusses settlement.
Tell the treating doctor about the old injury at the first visit. Patients often stay quiet about a prior surgery, worried that it weakens the claim. The reverse is true. A history recorded on day one, followed by records showing new findings, produces a clean before and after. A history that surfaces in month four looks like something you buried.
Ask your provider to write down function instead of pain alone. A note reading that you lifted 50 pounds at work and now manage 15 carries more weight than a number on a pain scale.
Go find your own old records in the first month. The note discharging you from care in 2020 and the final physical therapy record before the crash are usually the two most valuable documents in the file, and they take weeks to obtain.
Heavier impacts deserve extra urgency. A truck collision drives far more force through a compromised spine than a passenger car does, and cases like that can move into catastrophic injury territory within days.
When the adjuster asks for your records
An authorization form arrives early in almost every one of these claims. The wording usually opens your entire medical history instead of the body part in dispute, and the scope of that request can be narrowed before you sign.
Two arguments follow once the records land. The first says the imaging shows degeneration, so your pain predates the crash. Degenerative findings turn up in the scans of people who feel nothing at all, and a treating physician can testify to that. The second says a gap in treatment proves you had recovered. That same gap is also your strongest evidence that you were doing fine until the accident.
Property claims get the identical treatment. After a slip and fall, a store’s insurer will comb your history for that old knee just as quickly as an auto carrier would.
Frequently asked questions
Is an aggravated old injury worth less than a brand new one?
Not necessarily. Value follows the extent of the harm the accident caused. A collision that turns a managed back problem into a surgical one can be worth more than a straightforward new injury that heals in six weeks.
Should I tell my doctor about the old injury?
Yes, at the first appointment. Disclosure protects the claim rather than damaging it. An accurate history lets your physician document what is genuinely new, and a prior injury discovered later by an adjuster does real harm to your credibility.
What if I was still in treatment when the accident happened?
You can still recover. Continued treatment raises the bar for proof and nothing more. Your provider’s notes from the visits just before the crash establish your baseline, and any change in symptoms, medication, or restrictions after it becomes the measure of the claim.
Can the insurance company demand my complete medical history?
The company can ask, and many broad authorization forms are written to obtain exactly that. Records touching the injured body part are generally within reach. A blanket release covering unrelated care is worth reviewing with an attorney first.
How long do I have to file in Nevada or Arizona?
Most injury claims in both states expire two years after the accident, under NRS 11.190(4)(e) and A.R.S. § 12-542. Notice deadlines against a public entity are much shorter.
Conclusion
A prior injury changes what you have to prove. It does not take away the claim. The driver or property owner who worsened your condition remains answerable for the worsening, and the case comes down to how clearly the records show your life before the accident against your life after it.
Clients across Las Vegas and Phoenix have brought us cases that other firms called complicated because of a medical history. Their reviews speak to how those cases were handled.
Reach the Las Vegas office at 702.814.4000 or the Phoenix office at 602.444.2222. You can also request a free case review online and bring whatever old records you still have.
