Social Media and the Potential Impact on Personal Injury Claims

By: Scott PerrySocial Media Collageincluding Twitter, Facebook and YoutTube. Social Media and the Potential Impact on Personal Injury Claims.

In this day and age more and more things are shared on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. This can be something as simple as how someone is feeling to pictures of a night out on the town. While you have every right to share as little or as much of your personal life as you wish, this does have a potential drawback if you ever suffer a personal injury as a result of the negligence or actions of another person/entity.

When you are injured and make a claim for personal injuries, you put aspects of your private life on display. This means that if, for example, you are in a car crash anything you post on Facebook or Twitter may be discovered and potentially used against you.

The big problem is with misinterpretation. A picture may show you water skiing, but it does not show that you then spent the next week in bed in pain. That snapshot can easily be misconstrued and used against you.

Courts are still determining when and what an attorney can discover from a social media site, so it’s important to use common sense after an accident.

While you may not think these are big issues now, if you are hurt and make a claim for damages it can become a big deal. The best thing to do is avoid commenting about the accident/incident and consult an attorney right away to help protect your rights.