Can A Single Social Media Post Ruin my Personal Injury Case?
A single social media post can ruin your personal injury case. Your credibility matters more than anything else when making a claim for personal injuries. In order to show your ongoing pain and suffering, there is usually not a continuing broken bone or bloody limb to which we can point. Instead, most of the time, people silently suffer with an aching back or chronic pain. So, your credibility is paramount in a personal injury case.
It is the job of the insurance company’s attorney to attack your credibility. If you are claiming that as a result of the accident, you have daily back pain, yet you post a picture of yourself bowling with your friends and family, the defense attorney will argue that you are not in fact injured as you claim to be.
Any social media post, taken out of context, can and will be used against you in your personal injury case. What the online bowling post doesn’t say, is that you paid dearly for the night of bowling and pizza with your family, with increased pain and discomfort for many days after the fun night.
You may be thinking: “Only my “friends” can see my posts, so it doesn’t matter what I post.” In a Court case, your “private” online posts may not be shielded from the insurance company’s attorney. Even if only your “friends” can view your posts, the Court may still order you to turn over all of your posts, so the Court can review them for relevancy to your claims for injury. Simply put, the Court can order you to turn over any online posts to the defense attorneys, that relate to your physical condition or the accident at issue.
It is almost guaranteed that the insurance company and their attorneys will scour the internet to find any shred of evidence to attack you. An example from a family law case may help to illustrate the point: Your soon to be former spouse’s attorney finds one Facebook post, where you are out with friends, having a glass of wine with dinner. The attorney uses this one post to paint you as an alcoholic, that is unfit to care for your children.
The best way to make sure that the insurance companies and their army of lawyers cannot attack your credibility, is to simply not post anything on social media from the time of the accident, until your case is completed over. Don’t let a single social media post derail your personal injury case. If you have any questions, speak to your personal injury attorney about it.
Next time, we will talk about how health insurance may affect your personal injury case.
It is the job of the insurance company’s attorney to attack your credibility. If you are claiming that as a result of the accident, you have daily back pain, yet you post a picture of yourself bowling with your friends and family, the defense attorney will argue that you are not in fact injured as you claim to be.
Any social media post, taken out of context, can and will be used against you in your personal injury case. What the online bowling post doesn’t say, is that you paid dearly for the night of bowling and pizza with your family, with increased pain and discomfort for many days after the fun night.
You may be thinking: “Only my “friends” can see my posts, so it doesn’t matter what I post.” In a Court case, your “private” online posts may not be shielded from the insurance company’s attorney. Even if only your “friends” can view your posts, the Court may still order you to turn over all of your posts, so the Court can review them for relevancy to your claims for injury. Simply put, the Court can order you to turn over any online posts to the defense attorneys, that relate to your physical condition or the accident at issue.
It is almost guaranteed that the insurance company and their attorneys will scour the internet to find any shred of evidence to attack you. An example from a family law case may help to illustrate the point: Your soon to be former spouse’s attorney finds one Facebook post, where you are out with friends, having a glass of wine with dinner. The attorney uses this one post to paint you as an alcoholic, that is unfit to care for your children.
The best way to make sure that the insurance companies and their army of lawyers cannot attack your credibility, is to simply not post anything on social media from the time of the accident, until your case is completed over. Don’t let a single social media post derail your personal injury case. If you have any questions, speak to your personal injury attorney about it.
Next time, we will talk about how health insurance may affect your personal injury case.
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