Personal injury demands
Personal injury demand letter
Personal injury demand letter
Direct answer
A personal injury demand letter is the narrative document sent to a carrier that establishes liability, describes the documented treatment course and itemizes damages. It is evaluated together with the attached record set, so its strength depends less on writing quality than on whether every assertion in it can be verified against an attached exhibit page.
NORBU Demand Editorial · Reviewed by Legal reviewer · Last reviewed 2026-08-31
What a demand letter must establish
A demand letter has four jobs: identify the parties and coverage, establish responsibility for the incident, document the injuries and treatment that followed, and itemize the losses being claimed. Each of these is an evidentiary claim, not a rhetorical one.
| Section | What it asserts | What must support it |
|---|---|---|
| Parties and coverage | Who is claiming against which policy | Claim number, coverage confirmation |
| Liability | Why the insured is responsible | Incident report, photographs, statements |
| Causation | Why these injuries came from this incident | Initial treatment timing, provider histories |
| Treatment | What care was received and when | Records and a cited medical chronology |
| Damages | What the losses total | Itemized billing, wage records, receipts |
How carriers read the letter
A claims reviewer generally reads the demand once, then works backwards through the attachments to confirm the numbers and the timeline. Anything they cannot confirm quickly becomes a question, and questions become reductions.
- Assertions without a page citation are treated as unverified.
- A specials total that does not tie to the billing puts every figure in doubt.
- An unexplained interval in treatment is read as recovery unless the letter addresses it.
- Records referenced but not attached invite a request rather than an offer.
Preparing the letter from the file, not the other way around
01
Assemble the complete file
Records, billing, wage documentation and incident evidence from every provider and source.
02
Verify completeness
Compare what is referenced and billed against what is actually present.
03
Sequence treatment
Build the cited chronology the narrative will describe.
04
Reconcile damages
Match every claimed dollar to a billing or payroll document.
05
Draft the narrative
Liability, causation, treatment, damages, impact — each tied to exhibits.
06
Run a pre-send review
Resolve missing records, gaps and unsupported statements before it leaves the firm.
Note
Length is not a quality signal. A 12-page letter over a complete, indexed record set outperforms a 30-page letter over an incomplete one.
Relevant capability
Demand Intelligence →
Reports what the file supports before the letter is sent.
FAQ
Common questions
- How long should a personal injury demand letter be?
- Long enough to state liability, treatment and damages with citations, and no longer. Most well-supported demands run roughly 8 to 20 pages of narrative over a much larger exhibit set.
- What should a demand letter never do?
- Assert a fact the attached exhibits do not support. Every claim in the letter invites verification, and an unsupported claim shifts the conversation to credibility.
- Does NORBU decide what to demand?
- No. NORBU does not determine legal value, calculate case worth or predict settlement outcomes. It reports what the file supports so counsel can make that judgment.
NORBU Demand provides analytical support for counsel. It does not determine legal value, predict settlement outcomes, or provide legal advice. Every observation is presented for attorney review.
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