Social Media, and Personal Injury Claims

The great majority of people out there use social media in some fashion. One thing we have seen is that ALL automobile insurance companies are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other Social Media sites to snoop on personal injury litigants. 

Personal injury litigants and potential litigants should be aware that the information contained on these sites, including photographs, posts, messages, etc., may become accessible to defense attorneys, insurance adjusters, and witnesses in legal cases, even if you do not intend them to be or consider them private.  As such, you should exercise some discretion in deciding what type of information that you post via these social media sites.

If you do participate in social media sites, it is probably in your best interest to never post any information or comment in any way concerning your claim or potential claim for personal injury, including photographs of your injuries or comments about your theory of what happened that caused your incident.  This includes instant messaging and email as well.  Of utmost importance, you should never post anything concerning a communication between you and your attorney.

If you have already posted photos, comments, messages, etc. about your pending claim or potential claim, you should NOT remove those posts from your social media site, even if you think it may harm your case, until you have consulted with your attorney.  This may seem illogical, but removing posts about your case could be treated as destroying potential evidence, which is taken very seriously by our courts. 

If you have any questions or concerns about these issues, you should discuss them with your attorney or consult with an experienced trial attorney.