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Social media has become a seemingly essential part of our daily lives. We use it to share information about life events and communicate with friends and family across the country and around the world. But if you were injured in an accident and are pursuing a claim for compensation, social media can affect your personal injury case. Notably, it offers a window into your life that insurance adjusters and defense attorneys can use to damage your credibility and decrease the value of your claim.
Investigation and surveillance of claimants is standard procedure in many personal injury claims. Not long ago, insurance companies hired private investigators to photograph or video injured people performing everyday tasks, hoping to catch them doing something that could be used to contradict statements about their injuries and reduce the value of their claim. Today, all an insurance adjuster needs to do is check the injured person’s social media feed.
Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys routinely monitor a claimant’s social media profiles for evidence they can use to suggest a person’s injuries are not as severe as they claim. Within minutes, an insurance adjuster can discover a treasure trove of information, including photographs, check-ins, captions minimizing the severity of the accident or injuries, and timestamps that conflict with the injured person’s statements about symptoms or treatment schedules. And it is not just the injured person’s posts. Friends or family members who use social media can affect your personal injury case. Any photos you are tagged in could unintentionally create evidence that may be used to discredit your claims.
After an accident, many people continue to post on social media, mistakenly believing their posts are “private.” Unfortunately, insurance defense attorneys can subpoena an injured person’s social media, or use screenshots taken by a mutual connection. This information can be presented as evidence that can be used to discredit your testimony about your injuries and how they impacted you.
There are many ways social media can affect your personal injury case. But credibility is one of the most important aspects to consider. Significantly, credibility is key to obtaining a successful result in a personal injury claim. A defense attorney can use a social media post showing you engaging in activities that conflict with your reported limitations to suggest you are exaggerating your symptoms or were never as seriously injured as you claim to be.
Once an insurance adjuster or defense attorney has photos, location tags, dates, and captions, they can use this information to create a timeline of events, showing you were in a location or performing an activity at a time that was inconsistent with your claims about your injuries and your recovery.
The best way to protect yourself online after an accident is not to post at all. If you cannot stay off of social media, think carefully about what you post and how an insurance adjuster or defense attorney might use it to compromise your claim.
As a general rule, you should avoid discussing the accident or your injuries with anyone other than your attorney. Ask friends and family to avoid discussing your situation or posting about it on social media.
No matter how strict your privacy settings are, online content is never fully private and can still be used against you. Restrict tagging, disable past-activity visibility, and turn off geotagging and location history.
Do not accept requests to connect from people you do not know, and remove followers you do not recognize. Insurance adjusters and private investigators may set up fake social media profiles to gain access to your private information, learn about your injuries, and collect evidence to undermine your claim.
If you already shared information about your case or your injuries online, you may be tempted to delete the posts.
Do not!
A deleted post can still be retrieved as an archived version. Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys can use your attempt to delete a post to make it sound like you have something to hide. You could also face legal allegations for destruction of evidence.
If you already posted and are considering deleting it, speak with your attorney first. Your lawyer can advise on how to handle the post as part of your case strategy rather than deleting it.
There are different ways to exercise caution when using social media after an accident. The best way is not to post at all. If you plan to continue using social media, do not discuss the accident, your injuries, or your treatment, and avoid posting information that could be used to damage your credibility, particularly about your limitations.
Your attorney can explain how social media can affect your personal injury case and strategies to address posts that you already made or in which you were mentioned.
When a Florida accident causes personal injuries, the attorney team at Saka Bryant, P.A., can provide advice and legal guidance to help you move forward and will fight to protect your rights and secure the compensation you deserve.
If you were hurt in an accident that was not your fault, contact the personal injury attorneys at Saka Bryant, P.A., today to learn how social media can affect your personal injury case. We are committed to helping accident victims recover the compensation they deserve. Contact us online or call 754-283-8030 to schedule a consultation to learn more about how we can help.
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