How Can Posts to Social Media Affect my Personal Injury Claim?

You may think nothing of posting photos of yourself smiling, out with friends, or enjoying a day outside at the park on Facebook or Instagram. You might casually comment on a friend’s post about a wild night out that you had, without clarifying that it occurred years earlier. It’s easy to get comfortable posting personal information to social media without giving it a second thought. However, when you’re pursuing a claim for damages resulting from an accident, insurance company attorneys will be combing through this information to find ways to weaken your claim. Below are some facts about the role social media can play in your personal injury case.

It might not seem like anything you put on Facebook could have legal significance, but social media posts are now commonly used as evidence in court. Instead of hiring a private investigator to try and capture photos of you engaging in activities that would be impossible for an injured person, insurance companies simply sift through your public photos and posts to find “evidence” that you’re not as hurt as you claim to be. We all have a tendency to portray our lives as happy and care-free, even when we’re struggling to make ends meet because of expensive hospital bills or in chronic pain. However, these misleading posts can be taken at face value by attorneys for insurers who want to reduce the amount of compensation for injuries you’re able to recover at trial.

Here are some tips on how to handle social media during a lawsuit:

*Make your accounts entirely private, and do not add people as friends whom you don’t know personally.

*Do not post any information about the facts forming the basis of your claim, or about the lawsuit itself.

*Don’t post lots of information about your day-to-day activities, and ask friends not to tag you in photos or comments that could portray you in ways that could be detrimental to your case.

If you’ve been injured in an accident and need legal guidance to ensure you recover every dollar you’re owed for your claims, contact the experienced Wayne personal injury law firm of Massood Law Group for a consultation, at 1-844-4MB-HURT.