These days, sharing your life on social media is second nature for many people and not something people think much of. As such, if you’re injured because of someone else’s negligence, you may want to post about it. After all, it’s always nice to get sympathy from others.
However, you’ll want to think twice about posting about your situation if you’re pursuing a personal injury claim. Social media can undercut your claim, giving the defense fodder to question your credibility and the amount of damages owed to you.
Here are some basics you should know about how social media can impact your personal injury claim. As is the case with all of our blogs, this is just general information that may or may not apply to your case and cannot be taken as legal advice. If you would like legal advice on your specific situation, contact a lawyer to schedule a consultation.
How To Use Social Media During A Personal Injury Case
It is best to stay off of social media and refrain from posting until the case is resolved. Anything you say or depict can be used against you.
For instance, if you post about the accident and assure your loved ones that you’re fine, but you also filed a personal injury claim… “I’m fine” doesn’t lend itself well to that.
If you post yourself taking part in any activities, the defense may also use this against you. For instance, if you say your leg was hurt but you post a picture from a hike, they may say that your leg mustn’t really hurt that bad then.
As such, it’s best to take a social media hiatus. You can show your social media accounts to your lawyer and ask for their guidance if you’re worried about how anything may impact your case.
Private Vs Public Profiles
If you have a public profile, it’s easy for the defense to see what you’ve been posting. If you have a private profile, you may get new follow or friend requests – unless you’re sure you know the person, hold off on accepting any until the case is closed.
Just because your profile is private or you switched it to private does not mean that you can post anything you want, though. Opposing lawyers can ask for discovery requests and courts can order you to show your socials.
Avoid deleting profiles or any posts. While you may think you’re doing yourself a favor, what this actually does is raise suspicion that you have something to hide. Some courts can also deem this “spoliation of evidence”. Also, anything you delete may be uncovered by court order.
Social Media Posts Can Be Subject To Discovery Requests Or Court Orders
As previously mentioned, even if you have private social media accounts, the opposing lawyer can still ask for printouts of your social media activity as part of their discovery process. If you do not want to produce the information the opposing party is asking for and the opposing side can show good cause, you may be court ordered to produce information from your socials.
The court may also order you to reactivate deactivated accounts. If you deleted your accounts, subpoenas may provide information from servers that store social media data, depending on how long the data is retained.
How Social Media Can Hurt Your Case
We’ve touched on how social media can hurt your case above. The connections lawyers can make between your posts and your case can be far more than you expect. Some of the ways beyond what was mentioned above in how socials can hurt your case include the following:
- Posts about drinking and high risk activities may be used to argue that you had a role in your accident.
- Pictures of you smiling, talking about how grateful you are for things, pointing out the good, posting motivational quotes, and the like can all be used to dispute loss of enjoyment in life.
- Posts about hauls, recent purchases, recent projects, affiliate links, and more can all be used to dispute a loss of wages or earning capacity.
- And so much more.
Even if you think your post or your comment on someone else’s post may help your case, it could end up doing the opposite.
Do You Need Help With Your Personal Injury Claim?
LeBaron & Jensen is here to help. Contact our office to schedule a case consultation and let our experienced attorneys provide you with the expert advice you need to help your case.
