diff --git a/.changeset/web-to-case-priority-is-not-hook-stamped.md b/.changeset/web-to-case-priority-is-not-hook-stamped.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c548e4ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/web-to-case-priority-is-not-hook-stamped.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+---
+---
+
+Prose only — this PR releases nothing to HotCRM users, so the frontmatter above is
+deliberately empty (the sanctioned "releases nothing" declaration that
+`.github/workflows/changeset-check.yml` documents, on par with the
+`skip-changeset` label). No `src/` metadata changed: no object, field, view,
+label, page or hook — the one `src/` edit is a comment.
+
+`src/views/case.view.ts`'s `web_to_case` doc comment listed `priority defaults`
+among the internal fields "stamped by `case.hook.ts` after a guest submission".
+That clause was false, and was false before any recent change removed anything:
+the hook has never written `priority`. The `if (!input.priority) input.priority =
+'medium'` line it referred to could not execute — `crm_case.priority` declares
+its `low` option `default: true`, and on the engine's insert path
+`applyFieldDefaults` produces the row that becomes the `beforeInsert` hook's
+`input.data`, so the slot is already full every time the guest branch runs. The
+line was deleted as dead code; `case.hook.ts` now keeps only a comment recording
+why it could never fire.
+
+The clause is **replaced rather than deleted**. `priority` really is defaulted,
+just not where the comment said, and `web_to_case` puts `priority` on the form
+in front of the guest — a reader who found the false clause and then found the
+field would be left with no account of where the value comes from. The comment
+now states the mechanism: the guest picks it on this form, an unset one takes
+the `low` option declared on `crm_case.priority`, field defaults are applied
+before `beforeInsert`, and the hook only ever *reads* `priority` (to derive
+`priority_rank`).
+
+The `low`/`medium` disagreement is resolved in favour of **`low`** by
+measurement, not by paraphrase: `applyFieldDefaults` skips a slot that is
+already non-null (so a guest's own selection wins) and otherwise takes the
+option marked `default: true`, which on `crm_case.priority` is `low`. `medium`
+only ever existed in the dead hook line. The other four items in the list
+(`status`, `origin`, `owner_id`, SLA) are genuinely hook-stamped and are
+untouched, as is the rest of the paragraph.
diff --git a/src/views/case.view.ts b/src/views/case.view.ts
index 14f5902b..99be626d 100644
--- a/src/views/case.view.ts
+++ b/src/views/case.view.ts
@@ -413,8 +413,11 @@ export const CaseViews = defineView({
    * Web-to-Case equivalent). Hosted at `/forms/support` and embeddable in
    * a help center. Guests can ONLY submit — the `guest_portal` profile
    * denies read/edit/delete on `crm_case`. Internal fields (status, origin,
-   * priority defaults, owner_id, SLA) are stamped by `case.hook.ts` after a
-   * guest submission.
+   * owner_id, SLA) are stamped by `case.hook.ts` after a guest submission.
+   * `priority` is NOT one of them: this form asks the guest for it, and an
+   * unset one is filled by the `low` option `crm_case.priority` declares
+   * `default: true`. Field defaults are applied before `beforeInsert`, so the
+   * hook only ever reads `priority` (to derive `priority_rank`).
    */
   formViews: {
     web_to_case: {