How Social Media Can Hurt Your Personal Injury Claim

If you have a pending personal injury claim, you’ve probably taken all the steps you believe are necessary to successfully fight your claim: consulting a trusted injury law firm, such as Lebovitz Law Group, and gathering all the necessary evidence and medical documentation needed to prove your claim.  However, chances are that you use a social media site like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or even LinkedIn. What many plaintiffs do not realize is that their use of these sites could hurt their pending personal injury case and may work against them in obtaining their rightful recovery. The insurance companies defending a personal injury case will often stop at nothing to attempt to discredit you and your case so they can potentially deny (or minimize) your claim.

How Can My Social Media Activity Work Against My Personal Injury Case?

While a law firm like Lebovitz Law Group may be working their hardest to make a credible case on your behalf, it may come as no surprise that defense attorneys or insurance adjusters will do whatever they can to discredit you and your injury claim.  As technology becomes more widespread and sophisticated, defense attorneys and insurance adjusters have become savvier at accessing a claimant’s personal social media sites, even if they are set to private or have security restrictions set. Even if you think your sites do not contain incriminating information, chances are that a defense attorney or insurance adjuster will find many seemingly harmless statements or photos to use against you.  

What Types of Social Media Activity Can Be Used Against My Personal Injury Case?

Even seemingly harmless social media activity can be used against you by ruthless insurance companies, their adjusters and defense teams.  For example, any photos — whether posted by your or by your friends — of you engaging in physical activity or going on vacation can serve to undermine your claims of physical injury or financial loss.  Posting about your case, particularly any expected financial benefit, or any posts related to your poor financial situation could be used to make you look like you are just going after the insurance company for money.  Defense attorneys could use photos of you simply smiling and enjoying yourself to deny claims of pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life, and they could even use photos of you with a drink in your hand to attempt to undermine your character. 

How Can I Protect Myself and Keep My Social Media Activity from Harming My Personal Injury Case?

While it is often recommended to abstain from social media while pursuing a personal injury claim, many people are unable or unwilling to do so.  There are a few simple rules that Lebovitz Law Group recommends you follow if continuing to use social media during a personal injury claim:

•  Always update your privacy settings. 
• After retaining a specialized legal team such as Lebovitz Law Group, do not discuss the details of your case with anyone except your attorneys and doctors.  Any information shared outside of these protected relationships can be used against you.
• Do not post any new photos and ask your friends not to post new photos of you or tag you in social media posts.  If possible, delete any existing photos that could potentially be problematic for your case.
• Be very careful of who you add or accept on social media sites.  If someone you do not recognize wants to connect, be very wary of accepting their request.  Even if you have mutual friends in common, check to see how recent their profile activity is or if it appears that the account just recently became active.  Often, false profiles will add mutual friends to make you feel safe about adding them. You can also check with your “mutual friends” to confirm if the request is legitimate.

Contact LLG Today!

The experienced and dedicated staff at Lebovitz Law Group will help you navigate the difficult path to recovery, and ensure that you have the information, resources and support to get the settlement you are rightfully entitled to.  Please contact the legal team at Lebovitz Law Group today!