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I was Injured In A Car Accident - Do I have to Give My Social Security Number To The Insurance Company?>

If you were injured in a car accident, chances are an insurance company will ask you for your social security number. They will tell you they cannot process your personal injury claim without first obtaining your social security number. This is - to quote Joe Biden - a lot of malarkey. While an insurer is obligated to ask you whether you have ever had Medicare [as part of the healthcare law], they do not need your social security number to process your personal injury claim. So why do they ask for it? Probably so they can run your social security number through a database and see whether you have ever made a personal injury claim in the past.

So what is the relevance of either a social security number or prior claims to your current personal injury claim? The social security number is irrelevant as a matter of law. Smith v. Superior Court, 189 Cal.App. 2d 6, 13. Prior injuries or claims may be relevant to your current personal injury matter - but only if you had a condition that was already bothering your at the time of the current car accident. Otherwise, your medical history is irrelevant.

All that said, the thing to remember is that negotiations with an insurance company are voluntary - and if you unreasonably withhold information from the insurance company they will simply choose to not pay your claim.

Pete Clancy is an Oakland personal injury lawyer.