How Social Media Can Cause Harm To Your Legal Case
For over a decade now, social media has become the norm on how we interact with each other on a daily basis. We post our favorite moments from our life on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and Snapchat for all our friends and family to see as well as the public.
While this is all a good thing focusing on networking with friends and family, it can also be a very bad thing when it comes to your Injury. Sharing too much about yourself can have a major negative impact on your current situation. When it comes to your injury, especially if you have a case, what you share and how you share it can make or break the type of compensation you deserve.
According to many researches, roughly half of the adult population use social media as a platform, and as more participate, the influence becomes larger. So obviously, there should be some type of concern about what you choose to share when it comes to social media.
In many situations, what you choose to share or say can be used against you to dispute your claim. According to a recent article, insurance companies use social media as one of the first sources to go invest in a claim. Social media is used by insurance companies for disputing the type of post, what you posted, the severity of your injury, and the time, date, and location.
Insurance companies can even go as far as using other social media sites you visit, such as you going to a page pertaining to a preexisting condition and Liking that page, such as drugs or alcohol.
Many online photos and/or posts are starting to become commonly used as evidence in court. What you posted is being used to fight your claim by insurance companies. Many examples include evidence of you doing any type of manual labor, engaging in activities that conflict with your injury location, admitting fault to your injury, and/or location tracking that discredits your injury.
If you have been injured due to someone or something else’s fault or negligent behavior while filing a claim, it is absolutely important to be careful while posting information on social media. According to Consumer Reports, you can protect your privacy by using caution when making posts, realizing that once you put something on the internet, it is there forever, changing your social media settings to private, not allowing yourself to be “tagged” on posts by others, and blocking applications that automatically share your location tracking.
The safest way to keep yourself from harming your claim due to social media, is refraining from using it at all.
The real safe way to keep yourself from harming your claim due to social media, is refraining from using it at all until your case has been resolved. If you cannot refrain from social media, remember to never post comments about your case or injury, never post anything dealing with finances, never post anything about leaving or returning to work, never post anything about who is involved in your claim, and last but not least, never post anything negative about the insurance company nor the case itself.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, contact the attorneys at Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. by chat or calling 601-948-8005. There is no fee to discuss your case with us, and we can assist you in getting the compensation you deserve.