If you are currently a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit, you need to think twice before you sign into your favorite social media accounts. During a personal injury lawsuit, the defense has the right to subpoena personal information about you through the discovery process, including how you spend your time online. Here are a few tips for using social media while engaged in a personal injury suit.
Keep Your Posts In Check
The first thing you need to do is keep your posts in check. If you are pursuing a personal injury lawsuit because you sustained physical injuries, posting photos, videos and status updates about your latest physical exploits is not a good idea. That means no sky-diving photos, and it also means you shouldn't post online about your latest workout or your trip to the beach.
You should also watch how you talk to and about other people online. If opposing counsel notices that you have been trash talking someone online, or recently ended your social media relationship with someone, they can investigate that activity further. They may call as a witness against you someone they noticed you were bad mouthing online.
Let Your Friends & Family Know What Is Going On
It's not just about what you post; it is about what your friends and family post as well. While you are engaged in your personal injury lawsuit, ask your friends and family if they can refrain from posting videos and photos that you are in. You should also ask them to not tag you in comments or check you in to locations through their social media accounts.
Opposing counsel can use the information that your friends post about you against you in court as well.
Limit People's Access To Your Accounts
Since you may not be able to get in touch with your friends and family and share that you are trying to limit your social media accounts, get up-to-date on your privacy settings. Many social media sites allow you to restrict access to your personal page. You can set it up so friend and family cannot post on your personal, public page.
Keep in mind, though, to keep any private messages you send through social media in-check as well. Opposing counsel can request access to your entire account, not just your public page.
Remember to keep your social media postings in check throughout your personal injury lawsuit. At any time, opposing counsel can request access to your social media activity through a subpoena, and can use that information to shed doubt on the case that you are building. For more information about how to behave when pursuing an injury case, contact a company such as Salerno Terrence Law Office.
Share5 May 2015
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