How Insurance Companies Use Social Media During Personal Injury Litigation
When pursuing a personal injury claim, one of the biggest threats to your case can come from an unexpected place—your own social media. Insurance companies actively search for any evidence they can use to reduce the value of your claim, and your online posts can become a prime target.
Even innocent photos or status updates can be twisted to paint a different picture of your life before and after your injury. Something as simple as sharing a recent outing or activity might be used to suggest your injuries aren’t as serious as claimed, putting your rightful compensation at risk.
The good news is that by understanding how social media can be used against you and taking steps to limit its impact, you can protect yourself. Knowing what to avoid posting and how to manage your online presence helps safeguard your case and ensures you don’t unintentionally harm your own claim.
How do Insurance Companies use Social Media in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
There are several ways that social media posts can be used to minimize the strength of your claim. Imagine, for example, that you are two years removed from an accident and decide to attend a concert with your friends. Upon returning home, you post a photograph of yourself smiling with your friends in front of the stage. The insurance company could use this one photograph in the following ways:
1. To Minimize Your Injuries and Limitations
The insurance company could point to this photograph to argue that your injuries must not be that debilitating; if you can go out and party with your friends, then you can certainly wash the dishes, right? If you braved the three-hour drive to the concert, your driving anxiety must have resolved. Generalizations like this can have a significant impact on your claims for pain and suffering, as well as future treatment costs.
2. To Point Out Contradictions
At discovery, you testified that your injuries prevent you from going out with your friends. It is now easy for them to point to this image as evidence that what you have testified about your function levels is untrue. This can have a huge impact on your credibility.
The issue with social media is that it is designed to provide a snapshot of our best moments. This photograph doesn’t show all the pain you were in at the concert or that this one night out came at the expense of your daily activities for the days following.
Tips for Managing Social Media Use
So how do you prevent the insurance company from drawing these extremely inaccurate conclusions from your social media posts? The simplest and safest option is not to use social media at all; disable your accounts and do not use them again until your matter is resolved. However, for many, social media is used to maintain their connection to family and friends, and cutting it out completely is not the most practical or healthy choice. In that case, we recommend following these tips:
- Do not post about the incident or your injuries on social media. If you have already posted about it, do not delete it, as this can be considered destruction of evidence.
- Ask your family and friends not to tag you in social media posts.
- Increase your privacy settings to the highest level possible.
- Delete followers and friends that you do not know personally, and be cautious when accepting new requests.
- Think before you post. Consider how the post could be construed by somebody seeking to use it to undermine your claim. If you’re unsure whether it could have a negative impact, err on the side of caution.
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