How Social Media Could Hurt Your Personal Injury Case

Over the last few years, social media websites have come to play an increasingly important role in how we communicate with each other. While it is true that these types of technological advances have made our lives easier in many ways, they have also come with a host of concerns, including worries about the privacy of users. While many people think their posts are private, the reality is that many users don’t actually realize that many people can still see their posts. This has had a wide range of consequences in various aspects of our lives, including the outcome of legal disputes.

Fortunately, there are precautionary steps that plaintiffs can take to help avoid influencing a court’s decision when contending with a personal injury matter. To learn more about how to protect your own interests during your legal dispute, please contact one of our experienced Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers today.

Don’t Assume that Your Posts are Private

Many social media platforms give their users a false sense of security, leading them to believe that private posts will only be visible to friends. While this may generally be true, it is still a good idea for plaintiffs to assume that insurance companies and investigators can view posts that are deemed private. For instance, some investigators, insurers, and defendants can view a person’s online posts by being a friend of a friend, which can grant them at least limited access. In other cases, a social media platform can even be subpoenaed and forced to provide an insurer with evidence that discredits the user’s claim. For this reason, those who are involved in legal disputes are strongly encouraged to assume that nothing they post online is actually private.

Avoid Posting Pictures

One of the most common incidents that negatively affects personal injury claims involves situations where injured parties post pictures on their social media accounts. These posts can often be used against a plaintiff. If, for instance, someone posts pictures of their injuries immediately after a car accident, an insurer or defendant could argue that, based on the online photos, a person’s injuries were not actually as severe as he or she is claiming. Similarly, posting photos where no injury is depicted could be used to convince a judge that far from suffering a serious injury, a plaintiff is actually going about his or her day-to-day life as usual.

Avoid Status Updates

While it may be tempting to post status updates, notifying friends and family of your recovery after an accident, doing so can have negative repercussions for a personal injury case. Like photographs, these posts can be used to convince a judge of the non-severity of a person’s injury, even if the picture is being taken out of context. If, for instance, a car accident victim posted that he or she was feeling much better after an accident, an insurer could use that information to argue that a plaintiff is overplaying an injury. Essentially, regardless of the type of media in question, anything a person posts online should be treated as something that can be used against them.

Set Up a Free Case Review Today

For help ensuring that you don’t accidentally damage your own injury case, please call 954-566-9919 to speak with one of the experienced personal injury lawyers at Boone & Davis today.

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