Blog – Discovery of Other Accidents in Medical Records

Personal injury claimants often have other accidents in their histories. Such accidents may have caused, in whole or in part, the injury at issue in a particular lawsuit. In In re Liberty County Mutual Insurance Co., No. 22-0321 (Tex. Nov. 17, 2023), the Texas Supreme Court discussed discovery of medical records that may include information about other accidents. The plaintiff in that case sought compensation for injuries alleged to have resulted from a car wreck in April 2017. Discovery revealed the plaintiff was in a car accident about two years before April 2017. The defendant learned the plaintiff had also been in four more car accidents after the accident at issue. Seeking information about these other accidents, the defendant subpoenaed records from the plaintiff’s primary care provider. The trial court granted the plaintiff’s motion to quash, and the defendant sought mandamus relief.

In ruling on the application, the Texas Supreme Court noted: “In personal injury cases, relevant evidence at trial includes both evidence of the injured person’s pre-occurrence condition and the course of her physical condition and progress after the occurrence.” Because the plaintiff’s primary care provider’s records could contain evidence of injuries from her other accidents, those records were relevant and discoverable. In particular, what the plaintiff told her doctor about these other accidents could be relevant to whether a causal link existed between the April 2017 accident and the alleged injuries. Even the absence of information about other accidents could be relevant. Discovery of medical records for a time period five years before and five years after the April 2017 accident were found to be proper in this case.

Discovery of a plaintiff’s medical records is a critical part of defending personal injury cases. For more information on Lillard Wright’s personal injury practice and how our attorneys defend such cases, contact us.