Social Media Use During Your Personal Injury Case
Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SnapChat are great ways to stay connected with friends and loved ones on the go, but it’s vital to use these platforms responsibly. If you find yourself entangled in any type of personal injury lawsuit, misusing social media or irresponsible posting, can completely ruin your case. Far too many people forget that social media is public space, and the court will consider anything you post as admissible evidence. In some cases, merely interacting with others without posting any content of your own can endanger your case.
Should I Avoid Social Media During My Personal Injury Lawsuit?
As soon as you begin the personal injury lawsuit process, you should consider yourself barred from posting on social media. Feel free to browse, but keep your activity to an absolute minimum and refrain from making any new posts. Even if they may seem innocuous, your posts can damage your credibility and ruin your chances of winning your lawsuit. Some of the ways your posts can hurt your case include:
- Conflicting evidence. If a social media post conflicts with your story or your claim, this will significantly damage your credibility. For example, if you are suing for an injury that makes walking difficult and you or someone you know posts a picture of you out and about, a defense attorney could use this as evidence that your injury is not as severe as you claim.
- Bragging. Some people may feel as though their lawsuit will lead to a significant sum of money. If a plaintiff decides to brag about how he or she is going to win a lot of money from a case, the defense attorney will use this as reason to question the plaintiff’s motives and argue that the lawsuit is nothing more than a cash-grab and not a legitimate civil action.
- Poor account security. You should have some form of two-step identification on all your devices and social media accounts so other people cannot access them. If your account is hacked or otherwise compromised, this can cause problems for your case.
Ultimately, posting on social media at all during a personal injury lawsuit is a bad idea. No matter what your intentions may be, a defense attorney will find any reason possible to impugn your credibility and question your motives behind the lawsuit. Rather than risking your opportunity to secure compensation through your personal injury claim, simply avoid social media until the case reaches a conclusion.
Some social media platforms allow you to “deactivate” your account, which makes it invisible and inactive to everyone else, but still allows you to reactivate it and resume using your profile later. It’s wise to configure your security settings carefully before deactivating your account so you can rest assured, knowing your profiles are safe until you reactivate. Once you hire a personal injury attorney to handle your case, he or she will likely recommend you do the same. Risking the outcome of your case by using social media simply isn’t wise in any situation, regardless of how strong you believe your case to be.