Social Media Evidence in Personal Injury Cases
Are my social media profiles going to become part of my personal injury case?
For a lawyer, I like giving blunt answers. So here – yes.
However, what is disclosed and how much of that profile is part of your case is open to significant interpretation.
For example, anything that is publicly visible with an online search will be available to the opposing party. Beyond that, a good investigator can usually find additional photos and/or posts which may not be visible to most people, even if you have not provided access.
When it comes to less publicly accessible information, there are two main issues argued by lawyers in this area when discussing whether non-public images and/or posts from social media profiles are producible. The first is privacy, in other words how public/private is your social media profile. Sharing your personal photos with 1000 “friends”, or allowing them to be publicly accessible without permission, is essentially acknowledging that you are waiving the right to privacy over this information. On the other hand, very limited permission has been seen as more akin to something like a photo album for close friends and family only, in which more privacy is expected.
The larger issue is usually one of “relevance”. Lawyers acting for Defendants and insurance companies will usually argue that all a person’s photos and posts are relevant, while those of us acting for Plaintiffs (the person bringing the case) usually argue that they are irrelevant to the issues in dispute. If they can’t agree, this is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Advice I usually give clients from the outset (it’s in our initial retainer letters), is to immediately increase their privacy settings, assume anything you post is going to be visible despite this change, and completely avoid posting anything about their injuries or the case online.
When it comes to a trial/hearing, there are additional rules which restrict how much of this information would be shown to a Court/Jury deciding the case, which I’ll explore in a subsequent post.
