$0 is what an old MRI is worth by itself if nobody ties it to your condition before and after the crash.

Picture a common Las Vegas scenario: a rider gets clipped near Grand Avenue during spring bike season, goes to Alta Vista Regional Hospital, and the insurer digs up a 2019 lumbar MRI showing disc degeneration. Then the adjuster starts saying, "This was already there."

That does not automatically kill the claim in New Mexico.

The rule here is simple: if the crash aggravated a prior condition, the at-fault driver still pays for the worsening. New Mexico follows the eggshell plaintiff rule. You do not lose because your back, knee, neck, or shoulder was more vulnerable than someone else's.

What insurers do with old scans is more practical than magical. They use them to argue:

• your pain was already the same before the wreck
• your treatment is for aging, not trauma
• your limits at work or home did not really change

The fix is evidence, not arguing.

What usually helps most:

• records showing your symptoms and activity level before the crash
• post-crash imaging and doctor notes comparing old findings to new complaints
• proof of a clear change: missed work, new meds, new restrictions, interrupted riding, sleep problems

If your lawyer is letting the insurer wave around an old MRI without locking down those comparisons, that is a case-handling problem, not proof your case is dead.

New Mexico's deadline for most injury lawsuits is 3 years from the crash, under NMSA 37-1-8, so do not let the file drift while the insurer stalls. And if the crash happened during monsoon season around flooded arroyos or slick roads off NM 518, road conditions may matter too, but they do not erase liability for making your preexisting condition worse.