If you have made an injury claim, stay off of Facebook. It could cause major problems in your case.
Courts across the country have held what people post on social media can be used in a legal proceeding. Judges have held there is not a reasonable expectation of privacy, and uploaded photos may potentially be used against a person making an injury claim.
Social media is a great way to stay connected with friends and families. However, oversharing may hurt a legal case.
Lawyers hired to defend a company or a person against an injury claim will gather evidence by any means necessary. That includes searching Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for posts showing someone isn’t as badly hurt as he or she claims.
Imagine someone who claims to be seriously injured. But Facebook shows him playing soccer with his kids, Instagram has a video of him waterskiing, and Twitter includes a selfie at the finish line of a 5K race. Those pictures could be used as evidence to disprove the severity of the claim.
Setting your Facebook profile to private is not enough. I hear too often from friends and clients who say, “What a person posts on their private Facebook page is private.” In the eyes of the law, that is not accurate. Nothing online is private.
The famous Miranda rights reading, “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” is well known and often recited in movies or shows. That applies to everyday life, too, especially on Facebook.
