No. Filing an injury lawsuit in California does not put your medical records in a public file. Records produced in a case are exchanged between the parties in discovery, and the court never sees most of them. What is public is the lawsuit itself: the complaint, the motions, and any judgment. Your MRI reports, therapy notes and prescription history stay between the lawyers, your doctors and the insurer, and a protective order can restrict them further.
The distinction that decides this question in practice is between what is produced and what is filed. In a typical car accident case we produce several hundred pages of medical records to the defense. Nearly all of them exist only in the lawyers’ files. The few pages that end up in the court’s file are the ones attached to a motion, for example a summary judgment motion where a doctor’s declaration quotes an operative report. Even those can be filed under seal with court permission. Settlements, which end the overwhelming majority of these cases, are private agreements that are not filed at all.
Are medical records public in a personal injury lawsuit?
Not in the ordinary course. The court file is public, but it contains pleadings and motions, not the medical records exchanged in discovery. Your records go to the defense attorney and the insurer under rules that limit their use to the case. If a party attaches records to a motion, those pages become part of the public file unless sealed. Most injury cases settle without any medical record ever being filed.
What becomes public when you file
The complaint is public, and it is searchable on the Los Angeles Superior Court website by name. The complaint describes the crash and the injuries in general terms, for example a collision on Ventura Boulevard in Encino causing injuries to the neck, back and right shoulder. It does not attach records and it does not list diagnoses in detail. Motions, oppositions and court orders are public. A judgment after trial is public, including the amount. A dismissal after settlement is public, but the settlement amount and terms are not, because the settlement agreement is a private contract.
Your deposition transcript is not filed with the court. It exists in the lawyers’ files and is used at trial if the case gets that far. Trial testimony is public because the courtroom is open, which is one of many reasons cases settle.
Before a lawsuit is filed, nothing is public at all. A claim negotiated with the insurer, which is how most injury cases in the Valley are resolved, exists only in the insurer’s file and the lawyer’s file. No court is involved and no record is created that anyone can search. Many people who worry about this question never need to file, because the claim settles with the carrier after treatment ends. The public record question only arises if the carrier refuses to pay fairly and a complaint has to be filed, and even then the records stay out of the file.
How far into your history the other side can look
Filing a claim puts the injured body part at issue and waives the physician-patient privilege for that condition and a reasonable period before the crash. It does not open your whole life. A client who hurt her back in a rear-end crash on the 405 in Van Nuys has to produce records about her back, including prior back treatment, because the defense is entitled to argue the condition existed before. She does not have to produce her gynecology records, her dermatology records, or records from a decade ago about an unrelated problem. When the defense serves a subpoena for everything from every provider, we object and the subpoena gets narrowed.
Mental health records are a separate question. A claim for ordinary pain and suffering, the kind everyone has after a painful injury, does not waive the psychotherapist-patient privilege under Evidence Code 1014. A claim for serious emotional distress, for example post-traumatic stress with treatment, does put those records at issue. We discuss this with clients before the complaint is drafted, because how the emotional damages are pleaded controls whether therapy records are ever requested.
What the insurance company will do with your records
The defense will read every page looking for two things: a prior complaint about the same body part, and a gap or inconsistency in the treatment. A note from 2021 mentioning low back pain after moving furniture will show up in the defense doctor’s report as evidence of a pre-existing condition. That is an argument, not a bar, and the answer is that a person with a sore back from furniture was working full time until the crash and has not worked a full week since.
Insurers also ask injured people to sign broad medical authorizations before any lawsuit exists. These forms typically allow the carrier to pull records from any provider for any time period. Do not sign them. A lawyer produces the relevant records with a cover letter identifying what is included and why, which keeps the scope where it belongs.
What you should do now
Tell your lawyer about prior injuries and treatment, including the ones you think are irrelevant. The defense will find them, and a surprise in your own records is worse than a prior condition the lawyer already knows how to handle. Do not delete anything from a patient portal or ask a doctor to change a note. Keep treating as recommended, because a complete treatment record is the thing that makes the records help you rather than hurt you.
If the records are sensitive, ask about a protective order. Courts in Los Angeles routinely enter stipulated orders restricting the use of medical records to the litigation and requiring their return or destruction when the case ends.
Questions people ask next
Can my employer find out about my lawsuit?
The complaint is public and searchable, so in theory yes. Your medical records are not in that file. Most employers never look, and an injury lawsuit is not a lawful basis for discipline.
Will my deposition be public?
No. The transcript is held by the parties and the court reporter. It becomes public only if portions are filed with a motion or read at trial.
Does a settlement show up anywhere?
The dismissal is public. The amount and terms are in a private agreement that is not filed, and most settlement agreements include a confidentiality clause.
Vaheh Manoukian handles every injury case personally, including the decisions about what records are produced and how the damages are pleaded, so that your privacy is protected while the case is proven. Call (818) 818-5031 for a free consultation.
