Social media is part of everyday life. Posting photos, sharing updates, checking in at locations, and commenting on what is happening around you can feel completely routine. After an accident, however, those same activities can potentially create complications for a personal injury claim.
Insurance companies and defense attorneys may review publicly available social media activity when investigating an injury claim. A photo, video, caption, comment, or location tag that seems harmless on its own could potentially be presented in a way that challenges the severity of your injuries, your account of the accident, or how the incident has affected your daily life.
At Woolsey Morcom, we help injured individuals throughout Jacksonville and Northeast Florida understand how their actions following an accident may affect their personal injury claims. That includes helping clients understand the potential risks associated with their online activity.
Why Social Media Matters After an Accident
When you pursue compensation after an injury, the insurance company may investigate much more than the accident itself. The insurer may evaluate your medical treatment, employment history, previous injuries, statements about the accident, and other information that could affect the value of your claim.
Your online presence may also become part of that investigation.
Even when a social media account has privacy restrictions, you should not assume that everything posted will remain completely private throughout a legal case. The safest approach is to treat anything shared online as information that could potentially be seen or discussed by someone involved in your claim.
Understanding a few common social media risks can help you avoid creating unnecessary issues while your personal injury case is pending.
Avoid Discussing the Accident Online
After an accident, friends and family may naturally want to know what happened. Social media can seem like an easy way to provide everyone with an update at once.
However, posting details about the accident can create problems later.
People rarely describe an event using exactly the same words every time they discuss it. You may remember an additional detail later, leave something out because you are trying to keep a post short, or describe the incident differently depending on your audience.
Those normal differences could potentially be characterized as inconsistencies.
Comments expressing emotion can also be misunderstood. For example, saying that you feel terrible about what happened does not necessarily mean you caused the accident. You might feel guilty because someone else was injured, because a family member’s vehicle was damaged, or simply because the accident created difficulties for other people.
When those comments appear online without additional context, however, they may be interpreted differently than you intended.
Rather than explaining the circumstances of your accident on social media, consider discussing the details with your attorney and the appropriate parties involved in your claim.
Photos and Videos Can Be Misinterpreted
A photograph captures a single moment. It does not necessarily show what happened before the picture was taken, what happened afterward, or how much pain someone experienced while participating in an activity.
That distinction can become important in a personal injury case.
Imagine that you suffered a serious back injury but attended a close friend’s wedding several months after the accident. You might spend most of the evening sitting because of your injuries but decide to stand for one photograph or participate briefly in an important moment.
If that photograph appears on social media, someone viewing it without context may only see you standing, smiling, or participating in the event.
An insurance company could potentially point to that image when questioning the extent of your physical limitations.
The same concern applies to videos. A short video may show only a few seconds of activity and provide little information about the pain or limitations someone experienced before or after it was recorded.
Be Careful With Locations and Check Ins
You do not necessarily have to post a photograph for social media activity to create questions about your injuries.
Location information can also be interpreted in ways you did not intend.
For example, checking in at a gym does not necessarily mean you completed a workout. You might have visited to speak with an employee, cancel a membership, meet a friend, or participate in an activity that complies with your doctor’s recommendations.
Someone reviewing the check in later, however, may not know why you were there.
The same issue can arise with amusement parks, beaches, sporting events, fitness studios, recreational facilities, or other locations associated with physical activity.
Location tags and check ins can create questions that would otherwise never have existed.
Positive Posts Do Not Always Tell the Whole Story
Social media often encourages people to present the best parts of their lives.
Someone experiencing significant pain may still post a smiling photograph. A person struggling emotionally after an accident might share an encouraging message. Someone recovering from an injury may post that they are having a great day because they finally felt well enough to leave the house.
Those posts do not necessarily mean the person has fully recovered.
Unfortunately, a positive caption or photograph could potentially be presented as evidence that your injuries are not affecting you as significantly as you claim.
If your personal injury case involves compensation for pain, emotional distress, physical limitations, or loss of enjoyment of life, your social media activity could receive additional scrutiny.
Friends and Family Can Also Create Problems Without Realizing It
Your own account is not the only potential source of social media evidence.
Friends, relatives, coworkers, and other people may post photographs or videos that include you. They may tag you in a location, mention an activity you attended, or comment publicly about your recovery.
Even when those people are trying to support you, their posts could potentially create questions about your claim.
You may want to ask the people closest to you to avoid posting photographs, videos, location information, or updates about your accident and recovery while your case is ongoing.
Do Not Delete Posts Without Speaking With Your Attorney
After learning that social media could affect a personal injury case, your first instinct may be to immediately delete previous posts or deactivate your accounts.
That may not always be the appropriate response.
Once a legal claim exists or litigation is reasonably anticipated, certain information may need to be preserved. Deleting content could potentially create additional legal issues depending on the circumstances.
Before removing posts, changing accounts, or making significant changes to your online activity, speak with your personal injury attorney about the appropriate steps for your specific situation.
Consider Limiting Social Media While Your Claim Is Pending
One of the simplest ways to reduce social media related complications is to limit what you share while your personal injury claim is active.
Avoid discussing your accident, injuries, medical treatment, insurance company, attorneys, settlement negotiations, or other details related to your case online.
You should also carefully consider photographs, videos, comments, check ins, and other posts that could potentially be misunderstood when viewed without context.
Privacy settings can be useful, but they should not be treated as a guarantee that information will remain completely inaccessible during a legal dispute.
When in doubt, speak with your attorney before posting something that could relate to your accident, recovery, or physical activities.
Your Actions After an Accident Can Affect Your Personal Injury Claim
A successful personal injury claim involves more than determining who caused an accident. Insurance companies may examine evidence from numerous sources when deciding whether to accept liability and how much compensation they believe a claim is worth.
Social media can become one of those sources.
A single post will not necessarily determine the outcome of a case, but online activity can create unnecessary questions, provide information that may be taken out of context, or complicate negotiations with an insurance company.
Working with an experienced personal injury attorney early in the process can help you understand what to expect and how to protect your interests.
Contact Woolsey Morcom About Your Personal Injury Case
If you have been injured because of someone else’s negligence, the attorneys at Woolsey Morcom can help you understand your rights and the steps you can take to protect your claim.
Our personal injury attorneys represent clients throughout Jacksonville and Northeast Florida in car accidents and other serious injury matters. We can investigate what happened, communicate with insurance companies, evaluate the damages associated with your injuries, and guide you through the legal process from the beginning of your claim through its resolution.
What you do after an accident can matter. Before speaking extensively with an insurance company, discussing your accident online, or making decisions that could affect your claim, consider speaking with an attorney.
Contact Woolsey Morcom today to schedule a consultation with our Jacksonville personal injury attorneys and learn more about your legal options.
