Your Social Media Use Can Impact Your Personal Injury Claim
After you’ve been injured, you want your life to go back to normal, or at least as normal as it can be post-injury. There are some considerations that you need to keep in mind when it comes to living in this technological age when you have a personal injury case. Social media is our go-to place to share information with loved ones and friends about our lives, and often, you don’t think much about using it as you always have. However, social media can potentially have a negative impact on your personal injury case.
Social Media’s Effect on Personal Injury Damages
After you’re injured due to someone else’s negligence or recklessness, it’s important to take care of your expenses with a personal injury claim. Often, there are two types of damages that you seek in this type of case. The first is your expenses, such as your hospital stay, missed work, bills, and other costs created by your injury. Secondary damages that are often sought in these types of cases are for the pain and suffering that occurred because of the injury. While a defense attorney will not be able to refute a bill from the hospital regarding your injury, there’s a chance that information found on social media could be used to refute damages related to pain and suffering.
Social Media and Evidence
Just as your lawyer works hard to build evidence to present for your personal injury claim, the defense lawyer will be doing the same for their clients. This effort includes looking for evidence that proves your claim for pain and suffering isn’t true. You may think that since you have your social media accounts set to private that your information shared online is safe, but it’s not. Someone with settings that aren’t private may have shared your post or interacted with it that allows other people to see it. There are ways around privacy settings.
Examples of How Social Media Can Impact Your Case
Here are just a few examples of how social media can have a negative impact on your case:
• Posting images of family events, parties, or other instances of having fun outside of the home can be used to show that your alleged injuries are not actually interfering with your daily living, as claimed in your lawsuit.
• Posting images of you hiking, biking, or being engaged in other athletic activities may be argued by the defense that your injuries never happened or that they’ve been exaggerated for your claim.
• Posting information about the lawsuit or the defendant can also be used against you. It may be used to show that your character is questionable and that this can be argued that you may be lying or have instigated the event.
A picture is taken in a brief moment and may not show the true extent of how your life is after an injury, but that won’t stop the defense from using it against you. It may not show the pain you feel once you sit down after singing happy birthday to your grandson or having to take numerous breaks during a small walk on a sunny day. It’s sad to have to consider how your social media can be taken out of context, but you have to think before you post.
Have questions or concerns about your social media accounts during your personal injury case? It can be helpful to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer to learn about your rights during your claim. It can seem unfair to have to be so careful because images online can be twisted to fit a narrative against you, but it’s better to be safe rather than sorry. Speaking with a lawyer can help protect you and your interests during your case.
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