A person who is filing a personal injury suit has likely been the victim of an accident and is dealing with traumatic injury. Healing and moving forward with these injuries can be difficult. If that is not hard enough, the opposing party and insurance companies are likely working hard to discredit your claim of personal injury. This is because insurance companies, and opposing parties, want to minimize the amount of damages that they will be responsible should the court find that the injured is entitled to personal injury damages. With so many people trying to discredit your claim, it is important to be proactive and try not to do anything that can harm your claim. Mistakes can happen, but you want to avoid them as much as possible. One of the biggest mistakes that can be made in a personal injury case is improper use of social media.
Recent studies have shown that at least 80% of people have some type of social media account in the United States – other studies estimate that the percentage of people can be higher than that. The number has steadily rose over the past 10 years as more and more social media sites appear and tempt people into joining. Most people do not realize, or even think, that the social media profiles of the injured can have a negative impact on a personal injury case. Social media can be devastating to a personal injury case if you let it.
In their effort to discredit your personal injury claim, the opposing party and insurance company will likely investigate any and all avenues that could give them the evidence they need. You can almost be certain that opposing parties will comb through personal social media profiles for any information that can be used to discredit the claim. Claims of physical injury can be discredited from photographs of you engaging in physical activity. Regardless of the injury that you are claiming, there are certain steps that can be taken to hopefully prevent social media downfall in your personal injury case.
- Avoid discussing your case on social media. While a personal injury suit is likely to always be on your mind, it is best to not share these thoughts on social media. Witnesses in a case can come from people whom you have talked to about the case. A seemingly innocent conversation could be devastating to your claim.
- Review privacy settings. Most people think that their privacy settings on their social media are set to have everything completely private. However, on the internet, there is no such thing as complete privacy. Review your privacy settings and make conscious decisions to not post or engage in any conversation that could have adverse effects.
If you are considering a personal injury suit and have questions about it, contact the personal injury attorneys at Greg Baker Attorneys at Law, PLLC. This is a difficult and confusing time in your life, we want to make this as easy a process as possible. Contact us today for a free consultation.