What Should I Tell My Personal Injury Lawyer? Start With the Parts You'd Rather Skip

Most people walk into a first meeting ready to explain how the accident happened. That part is easy. The harder conversation is about everything around it: the old injury to the same shoulder, the three weeks you skipped physical therapy, the statement you gave an adjuster, the photo your cousin tagged you in.

One principle holds all of it together. A lawyer can build a case around a bad fact they know about, and can do nothing with one the defense finds first. What damages an injury claim is usually not the fact itself, but the surprise.

Prior injuries and prior claims

If you hurt your back in 2019, say so. When you bring a claim you will sign authorizations releasing your medical records, and the defense will read them closely. Prior treatment to the same body part is exactly what they look for.

An old injury is not fatal to a claim. New York law recognizes claims for the aggravation of a pre-existing condition, and lawyers handle this routinely by comparing before-and-after imaging and treatment records. What they cannot do is explain it for the first time at your deposition, after you have already testified that your back was fine.

The same goes for earlier claims or lawsuits, including ones that went nowhere. Insurers share that history, so it surfaces anyway.

Anything you have already said or signed

Tell your lawyer about every conversation you have had with an insurance company, especially a recorded statement. Adjusters are trained, and they ask questions like "you're feeling better now, right?" for a reason.

Mention what you told the emergency room, too. A triage note saying you denied pain, written while adrenaline was still doing its job, is far easier to explain when nobody is caught off guard.

Gaps in your treatment, and the reason for them

Insurers read a gap in treatment as evidence you were not badly hurt. Often the real reason is something else: you could not get childcare, you could not miss another shift, the co-pays added up, the clinic stopped taking your coverage.

Those reasons are ordinary and explainable, but only if your lawyer knows them. Silence gets filled with the insurer's version.

Your own conduct

This is the disclosure people resist most. You were looking at your phone. You were not wearing a seatbelt. You had two drinks at dinner. You crossed mid-block. You were on a ladder you knew was wobbly.

New York handles this better than most states. Under CPLR 1411, your own share of fault reduces your recovery in proportion but does not bar it. Being partly at fault is a discount, not a disqualification. Concealing it can cost you the case, because once a jury decides you shaded one fact, it reweighs everything else you said.

Social media, and please do not delete anything

Assume the other side will find your accounts, including the ones you think are private, and that a photo of you smiling at a barbecue will be offered as proof you are fine. Tell your lawyer what exists. Do not delete posts once a claim is underway: destroying evidence creates a worse problem than the post did.

The money details

Your lawyer needs the unglamorous financial picture: who has paid your medical bills, whether Medicaid, Medicare or a health plan is involved, whether you have received no-fault benefits, and whether anyone has a lien on your recovery. They also need honest wage information, because lost earnings have to be provable.

How to say it

Give facts, not conclusions. "The light was green" is a fact. "It was probably my fault" is a legal conclusion, and you are not the one who gets to make it. If you do not know how fast the other car was going, say so. "I don't remember" is a complete answer, and far better than a guess an expert later contradicts.

Finally, do not overstate either. Exaggerated symptoms are the fastest way to lose a case that was otherwise strong, because surveillance and medical records tend to have the last word.

What you tell a lawyer during a consultation is confidential, whether or not you end up hiring them. That protection exists so you can be blunt. Use it, and pay attention to the answer: how a lawyer reacts when you hand them a difficult fact tells you most of what you need to know about hiring them.

This article is general information about New York law, not legal advice for your situation.

Sources: CPLR 1411 (comparative fault) · NYS DFS No-Fault FAQs · NYSBA, If You Have an Auto Accident · NYC Bar, Personal Injury Case Roadmap