What you post on social media could affect your case.
The experience of an auto accident can be scary and frustrating. Often, we may find it easy to post to social media to share the experience we are going through. Rather than flooding social media with details of an auto accident, we urge you to preserve these details.
Insurance companies easily turn to social media to discredit injury cases. You may ask yourself, what sort of mistakes should you avoid with your social media to protect your case? There are several situations insurance companies leveraged social media and diminished a claim:
Injuries sustained are not that bad, not affecting daily life
Although you may be hurt, and having to attend regular therapy and doctor appointments, your social media only shows what you post. If you post a photo at a theme park sitting on a bench it can be misconstrued. We realize you no longer can enjoy the same experience, but in the defense’s argument, you are still able to go out for an entire day.
Random Friend Requests
You have personalized your privacy settings so only friends can see your details. You need to be cautious of random friend requests. Insurance companies are smart, they may appear to have a similar interest, a mutual friend, or even affiliation within the profile. If you don’t recognize the name, don’t risk it.
Friends can be a source of “trolling” from Insurance companies
You set your page to private, and are on alert for random friend requests… Insurance companies may attempt to “troll” your page through connected social media accounts such as listed family members or tagged friends from photos. If a friend posts a photo of you portraying a regular lifestyle, insurance companies may try to manipulate it against you. You should restrict your tagging permissions to regulate who tags you and for what.
Injuries did not originate from this accident
If you have photos of prior hobbies such as a recreational sport, they may try and connect that to the severity of your injury. We realize you may no longer be able to enjoy the same fitness activities as before. Often friends will still want to tag you in something they think may be exciting to share.
As your injury attorney, we trust what you tell us. We cannot argue the validity of your claim when the insurance company obtains images or content that we are not aware of. As much as a social function social media may be, it is often best not to digitally socialize about your accident after an injury. If you have any questions about social media after an accident, our New Port Richey personal injury attorneys would be happy to share further information during a free consultation with you. Call us today at 727-849-5353 for more information.
