Social Media And Your Personal Injury Claim

Social Media Can Kill Your Personal Injury Case

What you post online could harm your chances of getting the compensation you deserve.

Why Social Media is a Risk

What you post on your social media isn’t just for you. If you’re making a personal injury claim, insurance adjusters and lawyers will use your social media against you. They’ll be looking for any type of posts that they can use against you in any way.

Some of the things they are looking for include:

• Posts contradicting injury claims.
• Pictures or videos suggesting the claimant isn’t as injured as they state.
• Comments or interactions that can be taken out of context.
• Photos of you doing something that might offend a jury (drinking, living extravagantly, etc).

How Might The Insurance Company Or Opposing Counsel Use Social Media?

I’ll give you an example from a case a few years ago. My client suffered back injuries and had to have a back surgery. During his deposition, the opposing counsel asked the client about the types of things the client could no longer do because of his injuries. In response, the client gave a long list of things, including saying that he couldn’t mow the lawn.

Sure enough, the attorneys went through the client’s social media page and there is a post about having just mowed the lawn.

It’s important to note that the client wasn’t trying to be untruthful, but he made a mistake. When asked about what he couldn’t do, he was really listing things that he could do, but were just harder and more painful after the wreck. And he posted on social media, because he was proud that he was able to overcome the pain and limitations to finally mow the lawn.

But the other attorney and the insurance company used the post to try and make the client look like a liar, and it was a problem in the case.

What Not to Post

As lawyers, we’d prefer that you don’t have any social media at all during your case. But I also know that’s not realistic. A second option if you want to keep social media is to make your accounts private so that only real friends and family can see them. While this does protect you some, there is no guarantee that the posts won’t be seen.

If you are going to have social media accounts, avoiding posts about the case entirely. Don’t post about the incident, how it happened, your injuries, etc. Avoid posting anything about the case. If you do, you can almost be guaranteed that it will be misconstrued and used against you.

You need to also be careful about posting seemingly unrelated content that could be misconstrued, such as:

• Photos of you engaging in physical activity; or
• Photos of you doing fun activities that jurors might resent; or
• Status updates about trips.

All of these can be taken out of context and used against you.

Also be careful of whose posts you like or comment on. Those can be used against you as well. If you support a controversial group or like a controversial post, that can come back to bite you.

And it’s not just you. If your friends or family tag you in their posts, then the insurance companies and other lawyers can find those as well.

Don’t Give Them Free Information

Aside from the above, we continuously advise against giving free information to the other side. We don’t want you talking to the insurance company or giving a recorded statement. In depositions, we want you to listen to the question and only answer the question instead of rambling on and treating the deposition as if it is your time to tell your story.

But social media gives the other side free information. Even if you don’t post about your case, investigators can take your other posts, likes, friends, etc. and create a profile on you that insurance companies use. Some of this can’t be avoided, but try to be mindful about giving them as little free information as you can.

Protect Your Claim by Staying Off Social Media

Avoiding social media use is one of the simplest ways to safeguard a personal injury claim. Try not to post, but if you must, make your accounts private and limit the topics of your post.

Let Us Help

If you have more questions, feel free to reach out to us. And if you’ve been injured in an accident, contact us today for personalized advice on how to protect your case and secure the compensation you deserve.

To learn more about these issues, read the following:

Learn From Defense Lawyers: Don’t Let Social Media Ruin Your Case

Don’t Let Facebook, Instagram or Twitter Ruin Your Personal Injury Case