How Pre-Existing Conditions Affect a Car Accident Claim in Virginia

One of the most common tactics insurance companies use to reduce or deny car accident claims in Virginia is raising the issue of pre-existing conditions. If an injured person had a prior back injury, a previous neck problem, or any other health condition that overlaps with the injuries they sustained in a crash, the insurer may argue that those injuries existed before the accident and are not compensable. Understanding how Virginia law addresses this argument can help injured people protect the full value of their claim.

The Eggshell Plaintiff Rule

Virginia follows a legal doctrine commonly known as the eggshell plaintiff rule — sometimes called the thin skull rule. Under this principle, a defendant takes the plaintiff as they find them. This means that if a crash injures someone who was already vulnerable due to a pre-existing condition, the at-fault driver cannot escape liability simply because the injuries were more severe than they would have been for a healthier person.

In practical terms, a pre-existing condition does not necessarily prevent an injured person from pursuing compensation after a crash. If the collision aggravates a pre-existing condition or causes an injury to be more severe or difficult to treat, the resulting aggravation may be considered as part of the person’s damages.

Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Condition

Virginia law allows injured people to recover compensation for the aggravation of a pre-existing condition caused by a crash. The key distinction is between the baseline condition as it existed before the crash and the worsened condition that resulted from it. An injured person is entitled to compensation for the difference — the additional pain, reduced function, and increased medical needs that the crash produced — not for the pre-existing condition itself.

Establishing this distinction typically requires medical evidence: records from before the crash documenting the prior condition, and records from after the crash documenting how the condition changed. A physician who can testify that the crash accelerated a degenerative process by years, or that a previously manageable condition now requires surgery, provides exactly the kind of evidence that supports an aggravation claim.

Why Insurance Companies Use This Argument

Raising prior medical history is a standard insurance defense tactic precisely because it can be effective when an injured person is not represented or is not prepared to respond. Adjusters may request extensive medical records, ask detailed questions about prior treatment, or obtain recorded statements designed to elicit admissions about pre-existing conditions — all with the goal of attributing as much of the injury as possible to factors predating the crash.

Virginia’s contributory negligence rule is a separate issue from whether a crash aggravated a pre-existing condition. Contributory negligence concerns responsibility for causing the collision, while evidence of a pre-existing condition may affect questions about the nature and extent of the injuries and damages resulting from the crash.

If you were injured in a crash and have concerns about how a pre-existing condition may affect your claim anywhere in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, or across Hampton Roads, Breit Law is here to help. With more than 47 years of trial experience, William Breit has fought for injured Virginians when insurers try to use medical history to minimize what victims deserve. Contact us today.

Map of the Hampton Roads region in Virginia, where car accident claims may involve questions about pre-existing medical conditions.