With most people having their family and friends on various social media networks, many people tend to feel comfortable and secure whenever they’re using their accounts on such platforms. But, you can’t be as complacent about posting stuff on social media when you have an impending or ongoing personal injury claim.
Everything you post online that can be linked to your personal injury claim can be used by the opposing counsel against you. Your social media posts will be considered by the court as statements made outside of the court because you’re a party to the case.
If you want to know how to avoid lapses when you have a personal injury claim, you might want to consider seeking help from a personal injury lawyer in your area. But, for now, here are some of the things that you need to know about social media use when you have an impending or ongoing personal injury claim:
Social Media Posts Are Admissible
One of the first things that you need to know about social media when you have an ongoing personal injury claim is that social media posts are admissible evidence.
You need to know that social media posts are considered as statements of a party. Your social media posts are classified as statements made outside of the court by a person who is a party to the case. They can be used as evidence against you to contradict any statements you’ve already given or are about to make in court.
Keep in mind that the opposing counsel or the lawyer of the other side can look for copies or printouts of what you posted on social media. They can even ask for copies of what you originally intended for limited viewing by a select number of friends and family.
The opposing counsel can ask you or your counsel to produce copies of your social media posts during the discovery phase of the trial. If you refuse this request without any justifiable reason, the opposing counsel can ask the court to issue an order to compel you.
The court will most likely instruct the opposing side’s counsel to show cause. This means they’ll have to show a good reason why you should, in turn, be required/compelled to produce the printouts or copies of the social media posts they’re looking for. But, when the other side is able to show a good reason for their request, then the court will most likely issue the order. When that happens, then you’ll have no choice but to submit what they’re asking for.
Reactivate Accounts And Compel Platform Owners
You won’t be able to take refuge in deactivating or totally deleting your social media accounts or the things you’ve posted. If you closed an old social media account where you made some statements related to your case, the court can still order you to reactivate your account. If you can’t do it on your own, the court can issue an order to the social media platform. The court can tell them to reopen or reactivate your account. Your previous posts would be retrieved and printed out. Such would be submitted by the social media platform to the courts.
The said documents can be used by the opposing side against you. The court can hold you in contempt if you don’t follow the court orders.
Comments By Others May Be Admissible
Another thing that you need to know is that even posts by your friends or relatives about the events related to the case may be deemed by the court as admissible evidence. Their posts concerning the extent of your injuries may be used as evidence, even if they posted their comments on their own social media accounts. These can most likely affect your claim and the compensation you can get.
If you can be reasonably ascertained from the words and phrases they used, that they’re referring to the events and circumstances of your personal injury claim, their statements can be admitted as evidence. Even if your relatives or friends just posted comments or reactions on your original posts, these can still be used as evidence against you.
While your personal injury claim is going on or being litigated, it’d be best to refrain from posting anything on social media that could be used against you or your claim. Also, it’d be right if you talked to your friends and relatives about this move. You can ask them to refrain, as much as possible, from talking about your claim or any of the events and circumstances in your personal life that’d be related to or tend to be related to the merits of your personal injury claim.
No matter how seemingly minor or inconsequential they may seem, it’d surely help your cause more or better if they could avoid discussions about or mentions of your personal injuries. They should take the stand if they really feel that they have something important and relevant to say about your claim.
This doesn’t mean that people who have ongoing personal injury claims should totally and absolutely inhibit or refrain from doing anything in social media. Most of the popular social media platforms have already become an intrinsic and almost indispensable part of people’s day to day life. People share a lot of thoughts and ideas through social media platforms that most of them can hardly imagine what life would be like if they couldn’t look at their social media accounts. The key here, then, is to be more conscious about what you say or comment on such platforms.
Here are some practical rules and guidelines that you can live by to manage your social media activities well enough that it won’t incriminate yourself:
Rule No 1: Change Your Privacy Settings
One of the most important things to do when you have an ongoing personal injury claim is to change the privacy settings of your social media account. There’s probably no website or social media platform that’s absolutely fool-proof against hacking or encroachments. There’s not much that people can do about it. But, what you can do is to restrict the chances that other people could have legal access to the contents of your social media accounts.
Here are some of the things that you need to adjust in your social media account settings:
- Limit who can see your future posts.
- Review all the posts and uploads in which you’re tagged. Disable tagging functions or require your prior consent.
- Limit who can see your posts to friends only, if you’re comfortable with it.
- Limit the people who can send you friend requests.
- Limit the people who can see your list of friends.
- Limit the people who can search for your email.
- Limit the people who can search for your current mobile phone number.
Rule No 2: Don’t Post Anything About The Accident
Another rule that you should observe when you have an impending or ongoing personal injury claim or case is that you shouldn’t post anything that has to do with the accident. For example, don’t post public statements to assure your family, friends, and relatives that you’re okay after an accident. Even if it appears after an accident that you just suffered a few minor wounds and bruises, resist the urge to say something about these injuries in public.
Your social media posts and statements can be used by either the insurance company or the defendant in a personal injury claim to assail your claims. It might even come as a surprise to you during the trial that the opposing counsel has already obtained copies and printouts of what you said on your social media page or account. In the end, you might lose your personal injury claim because you wanted to give assurance to your friends and family that you’re unscathed after an accident.
Rule No 3: Refrain From Posting New Stuff While Your Claim Is Ongoing
Another rule that you should try your best to observe is that you should refrain from posting anything new on your social media account while your personal injury claim is being tried in court. Keep in mind that anything you post on your social media account can be used against you by insurance adjusters. You can be sure that they’re going to use anything that they can find on your social media account to scale down the dollar amount of their liability.
Here are some examples of social media posts that insurance adjusters can use against your claim:
- You post a picture of you with your family a week after the accident. In the picture, you can be seen playing football or some other contact sports with your kids.
- One of your friends asks you on your social media wall, “How you doing?” And, you post a reply on your wall (with public settings): “Doing great! Never felt healthier my whole life.”
- A few days after filing the personal injury claim, don’t post anything like, “Planning to go to the Caribbeans with the fambam when the windfall comes in the mail.”
Conclusion
You should be careful about using social media and posting anything online if you have an impending or ongoing personal injury claim. Insurance adjusters and at-fault parties can use your public posts as statements made by a party outside the court. Keep in mind that the opposing counsel can use all your social media posts against you as they’re admissible in court as evidence.
