Social Media Can Impact Your Personal Injury Claim
Brian O Sutter
Personal Injury
In today’s society, we use social media for just about everything. You can keep up with friends and family, let people follow along with your life, and ruin your personal injury claim. Social media has become the first stop of many insurance companies that are disputing a claim. Much of the information that you put on these platforms is more public than you might think. It is best to avoid negatively affecting your claim whenever possible. Items To Avoid Doing On Social Media After Filing A Personal Injury Claim
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Avoid posting pictures of you doing anything that may hurt your case. The investigators are going to scrutinize every aspect of your profile and your postings. Obviously, if you have a neck injury from an auto accident, you should not be water skiing, and you definitely should not be posting pictures of it. In many ways, you can be your own worst enemy.
Do not talk about your claim over social media. All it takes is a few misjudged words to incriminate yourself. By not talking about your injury, there will be nothing for investigators to find. For example, your knee may be feeling much better one day so you post about it. The next day, you can hardly walk again but you have given them ammunition with your previous post. The best thing to do is keep your injuries between you, your personal injury lawyer, and your doctor.
Preexisting injuries may become exposed through your posts. This is one of the most common items that is looked for by investigators. Perhaps you posted something about your past back problem contributing to your new injury. There are some things in our lives that are best left in private and a preexisting injury is one of them if you have a personal injury claim.
Never post any information affiliated with money towards your case. For one, this is a safety issue. By disclosing monetary information in your post, criminals will be more inclined to commit fraudulent acts against you. Secondly, it can make you seem greedy, inconsiderate, or just in it for the money. These issues can all raise flags in your case so it is best to avoid them all together.
Tips To Avoid Unwanted Exposure
Always log out of your profile. Getting in the habit of logging off, even on your personal devices, will ensure that if your electronics are lost or stolen, no one can access your social media platforms. It also makes it much more difficult for hackers to obtain your information.
Make sure that your profile is always set to private. This will allow your friends and family to see your items that you share but it will hopefully keep unwanted visitors out. Being aware of what you post and keeping certain items private will make sure that your personal injury claim is not thwarted by your own social media posts.