Popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great places to share your thoughts and emotions. They are not ideal places to discuss legal matters. As the saying goes: “The Internet is forever.” What you post online can affect your personal injury case. If you’re about to file a claim or if you are currently negotiating the potential value of your injury claim, DO NOT discuss any specific details of your case online. You never know who reads what you are writing, and your own words and photos can be used against you.
In fact, you may want to stay off social media altogether while in you are in the process of filing an injury claim. For example, let us say that you were injured in a New York City car accident and are filing a claim against the at-fault driver. It’s not a good idea to post online how you caused the crash or that you were out drinking the night of the accident.
It’s also a bad idea to post photos shortly after the accident of you doing physically demanding activities. It’ll be challenging to prove in court that you suffered a debilitating physical injury if you post online details of the wonderful jog you just took when you should have been home nursing your injuries.
Your social media posts can come back to bite you. Just as potential employers review the social media accounts of applicants; insurance adjusters review the online activity of people who are making claims. If you admit fault or prove that you’re not really hurt by posting online, your claim may be denied or the potential value of your claim will go down.
There are many ways to hurt your claim that first seem meaningless. Be careful what you say at the crash site, what you tell the authorities, how you discuss your case with other witnesses and what you say to insurance adjusters.
It’s best to talk to an experienced New York car accident attorney to discuss what you should and should not do during the claim process. It can help to have an attorney speak on your behalf to insurance providers to make sure that your case is not affected by something you say online. Your actions after the crash will affect your ability to receive fair compensation from the at-fault driver. Contact Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP at (212) 986-7353 to talk about your situation.