How to Write a Personal Injury Demand Letter

Information to Gather

• Incident facts and parties involved
• Insurer, adjuster, claim, and policy information, when available
• Specific symptoms and injuries
• Medical visits, diagnoses actually provided, and treatment dates
• Medical expenses and lost wages
• Daily-life effects and other documented losses
• Supporting records that are actually available

Describe Injuries and Treatment Accurately

Use the symptoms, diagnoses, dates, and treatment details shown in your information and records. Keep symptoms separate from diagnoses, and do not add medical conclusions that a provider did not give you. Omit an unknown treatment status rather than filling the gap with generic language.

Economic Losses and Personal Effects

Economic losses are documented amounts such as medical bills, lost wages, and other receipts. Personal effects describe changes such as disrupted routines or difficulty with ordinary activities. The letter can organize both categories without assigning a legal value to the personal effects.

What to Include in the Letter

Include the claim reference, a factual incident narrative, the selected liability position, specific injuries and treatment, a checked summary of losses, the requested payment, and a reasonable request for a written response. Confirmed documents can be listed as enclosures.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Adding unsupported diagnoses
• Claiming future treatment is certain when it is not
• Using inconsistent incident or treatment dates
• Counting the same expense twice
• Replacing specific symptoms with exaggerated or vague statements