Social Media And Your Personal Injury Claim
Learn how social media may impact your personal injury claim
Most people have social media accounts where they mark events in their timeline. From everyday activities to milestones such as birthdays, it is where people share information about their lives. However, it is important to consider the privacy of your information especially if you are involved in a personal injury case. Social media posts can be admitted as evidence as long as it is relevant to the details of your case.
Here are 5 things to consider regarding how social media may impact your personal injury claim.
1 Your social media accounts provide a timeline of your activities.
When you are involved in any litigation case, the timeline of your activities may be called into question or closely scrutinized. By posting your activities in your social media accounts, you are providing the other side of the litigation process an open book of your time log which can potentially be used against you.
2 Casual Comments
People involved in an accident may share their experience on their social media timeline and well meaning friends may end up making comments such as “I am glad you are ok!”. They may not know the extent and severity of your injuries especially if they are related to soft-tissue injury or psychological trauma. These comments may provide a misleading representation of your injury and the hardships you are experiencing.
3 Inaccurate Timelines
Although social media posts provide an automatic timestamp on posts, the order of your posts may not reflect the actual timeline of your life events. If you are involved in an accident and subsequently post pictures of you bungee jumping from a vacation a year previously, it may provide an inaccurate and misleading representation of your state of health subsequent to the accident. Add the fact that claims may take months or years to be resolved, the timeline can be very confusing to sort out later.
4 Negative Posts
Sometimes people will vent frustrations of life in their social media posts. As a result, these posts may cast a claimant in a negative light and character. Depending on your history of social media posts, it may provide background information that can be used against you.
5 Protect Your Privacy and Review Your Settings
It is important to periodically review your privacy settings. Most social media platforms will allow you to control what information and posts are visible to various contacts. Further, some platforms may make your account publicly available if you do not customize your settings thus opening your feed to anyone who is looking for background information on you.
If you or someone you know has suffered a serious personal injury, it could profoundly affect their family, health, emotional well-being and quality of life. With legal cases often taking years, choosing a team that will stand by you, and deliver outstanding representation, is critical.
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