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Can Your Social Media be Used to Hurt Your Personal Injury Case?

The short answer is yes; your social media can be used against you during your case. One of the first things we at the Voelkel Law Firm tell our injury clients is to stop posting on social media, and do not delete anything that you may have posted already.
The advice may sound counterintuitive, but deleting social media posts, especially those related to your injury, can be later characterized as destruction of evidence by the insurance company. On the other hand, continuing to post in the same manner as before your injury can be later used by the insurance company to undermine arguments regarding how the injury has impacted your life.

In our previous blog post we discussed the first part of the insurance company’s playbook, making quick low ball offers to resolve claims quickly and for far less than their actual worth. A second commonly relied upon play from the insurance company’s playbook is to scour and save an injured person’s social media to be used later to devalue their claim.

How Insurance Companies and Defense Attorneys Use Social Media

Keep in mind, in the same way your lawyer is building your case, defense attorneys and insurance companies are working to devalue your injuries and lower your payout. Defense attorneys and insurance adjusters will typically conduct social media searches on an injured person as a routine part of their case preparation. For example:

  • You were injured in a crash and are suffering from significant back pain and are unable to participate in your normal daily activities. However, in an attempt to get back to normal life, you briefly attend a party and take a picture with friends and family looking comfortable and happy. That photo can later be taken out of this context and used by the defense to create a question regarding the true extent of your injuries. 
  • You posted a photo attending a concert, going to the gym, or taking a pre-planned trip. These location-based posts tell a story of your daily life that may not be an accurate reflection of how you are truly feeling. 
  • You posted shortly after the crash telling your friends what happened and that you are ok to ease their minds. That social media post can be used later to lock you into that specific version of events regarding the crash AND can be used to diminish the injuries and pain you suffered.

The Problem with “Good Days”

Most people who have been injured in a crash have good days as well as bad days. You might feel capable of going to an event one afternoon then unable to get out of bed the next morning.

Insurance companies and defense attorneys know this, but they also know that jurors are skeptical of injured parties and do not want to award money to someone who is exaggerating their injuries. A picture of you smiling and standing at a family members’ birthday party does not mean your back pain does not exist, but taken out of context, the insurance company can use this as a piece of evidence to insinuate that you were feeling better just weeks after your car crash.

Five Ways You Can Protect Yourself Online

The easy answer is to not post on social media while your claim is pending. This can be a challenging ask, so at a minimum, you should refrain from posting about the events surrounding the accident, your injuries, your treatment, and your case. This includes comments on other’s social media posts and direct messages to friends and family.

The second thing you should do to protect yourself online is to adjust your privacy settings. But be aware, this is not a complete defense to the insurance company’s internet sleuthing and insurance companies and defense attorneys have legal ways to get around even the strictest privacy controls.

The third thing you should do is to make your friends and family aware that they should not tag you in any photos or make their own posts about your situation. This is because your case can be impacted even by what other people are sharing about you.

The fourth thing to consider is to be thoughtful about what you like or comment while on social media. Even small engagement can create a record that the defense can track.

And finally, and most importantly, do not delete old posts without first consulting your attorney. The deletion of old posts can lead to a destruction of evidence instruction at trial and can have serious consequences on your case. Your attorney can provide the jury with missing context from your “Good Days” photos but will have a much harder time explaining why social media posts were deleted during an active case.

Your Credibility as an Asset

In a personal injury case, your credibility is one of your most valuable assets. Everything that supports a clear and consistent account of how your injury has impacted your life serves to strengthen your case. The inverse is also true, everything that creates inconsistency, confusion, or suggests exaggeration weakens your case.

Social media is one of the easiest places for your credibility to be attacked, and in most cases, without you even realizing it. At the Voelkel Law Firm, we talk with our clients about the use of social media early and directly. These conversations give our clients the knowledge they need to protect their case from avoidable harm. If you have been injured and want to know more about how social media can impact your case, give us a call for a free consultation at (804) 603-8760. 

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