Posting on Instagram, Facebook & other social media sites can do major damage your personal injury case. Nearly all American adults are on Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media for keeping in touch and sharing who we are. If you are involved in a lawsuit or injury claim, the insurance company and their lawyers may be looking you up. You should have nothing to hide, but sometimes even innocent sounding posts, cartoons, or activities can be turned against you. For instance, immediately after an accident you might feel ok, post about it, and announce to the world that fortunately, you are doing fine. Then the next day you wake up with a sore neck. The initial post could be used to make it look like you are faking injuries, even if that is far from the truth. Another example is those memes that we have all seen about needing a million dollars, drinking wine, etc. After being hurt in an accident, you must be truthful at all times and never over-exaggerate your condition. This is a matter of integrity and honesty, which is critical to your case (and your life, in my opinion). If you are claiming that you could hardly walk after the accident, you had better not be posting on social media about training for a race or water-skiing on Lake Michigan.
Privacy Settings do not protect you in litigation. Just because your posts are not set to public does not mean that the same rules will apply in an Illinois court. Deleting posts from social media can be even more devastating. There are companies that exist just to find things posted on social media by a party involved in a personal injury claim. Innocent posts can be twisted in meaning and used against you.
I have begun seeing a trend in litigation where injured people are asked to disclose their social media handles and provide data to the other lawyer. Not only is this burdensome and expensive, it is considered by many to be an invasion of privacy. However, it can be considered fair game in an insurance claim or a lawsuit.
The safest course of action is to avoid posting anything personal on social media. We lived without it once before, we can do it again. Tell your friends not to tag you. Don’t use social media as a way to keep other updated on your progress after an accident. Instead, call your friends or talk to them face-to-face. These interactions are more meaningful anyway to the people who care about you.
Here are some exampled of posts that can be twisted and used to attack your credibility:
- Post showing you throwing a ball to a child. This can be taken as show that there is nothing wrong with the shoulder that you claim to have hurt in an accident. What they don’t see is the tears that sprang to your eyes after 10 minutes when you moved that shoulder incorrectly, or the pain pills that you had to take that day just to be able to enjoy some family time.
- Post of you arriving on vacation. This can be taken to show that you are up for adventure! What they don’t see is that you will sit on a beach towel while everyone else is out having fun in the water.
- Post of you planting flowers, when you testified that you can no longer garden. What they don’t know is that the picture was taken on one of the three “good days” that you had, when you tried to garden and were able to manage if you moved slowly and iced your arm later.
If you have been hurt in an accident that was not your fault and would like to know more about what you should and should not be doing right now, feel free to call us for a no obligation call with the attorney at 630 250-8813.