The Impact Of Social Media On Injury Cases
The use of social media is a daily occurrence for most people. Yet if you’ve been injured because of another person, it’s vital that you understand how your use of social media may strengthen or weaken your claim as a truck accident lawyer can explain:
Our objective is to help readers understand proper social media use in an effort to preserve your claim. We hope you’re able to take the simple wisdom from this article to protect your claim. You’ll learn about:
- How social media may strengthen your claim;
- How social media can weaken or endanger your claim; and
- Proper use of social media during your claim.
How Social Media May Strengthen Your Claim
Understand that the insurance adjustor or even a member of the insurance company’s legal team may look for you on social media. Their objective is to show that you’re not as injured as you say you are. So, what can you do with your social media accounts to strengthen your claim? According to our friends at Herschensohn Law Firm, PLLC, answers include and may not be limited to:
- Set all of your social media accounts to private or friends only. This can help you by protecting anything you’ve said about the accidents and your injuries.
- If you discuss the accident or your injuries, make sure that you don’t apologize or say anything that may be deemed as you taking the responsibilities for your injury or claim.
- It’s probably best to forgo talking about the accident online to protect yourself and strengthen your claim.
How Can Social Media Weaken Or Endanger Your Claim
Social media gives users a rose-colored glasses view of their lives. Make sure that you do not weaken or endanger your claim by posting images or language that may be taken as you not being as injured as you claim. For example, if you have an injured foot or leg, don’t post photos of you doing things that could cause more harm. An example of that would be not to post photos of leg day or otherwise inappropriate activities that could lead the insurance company or their lawyers may see. You would also want to create or keep written posts that only show how you’re healing.
How To Use Social Media During Your Claim
You can potentially protect or ruin your claim with your social media accounts. To use social media properly, you can:
- Make sure your account is totally on private or locked down;
- Don’t add people you don’t know; not all jurisdictions make it against the legal rules to try to friend people;
- Don’t talk about your claim or injuries. If you do, make sure that while the posts are truthful, they cannot be used against you later; and
- Talk to an experienced lawyer to get advice about what you should and shouldn’t do or say on social media.
It is best if you are injured to not post to social media about it at all. Keep everything offline so your lawyer can handle your case. Be sure to seek legal help as soon as possible after the injury.
