Personal Injury Cases in the Age of Social Media
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When you slip and fall at a business or at someone’s home, your first inclination might be to start posting pictures of the bruises or of your hospital room. In today’s age of social media, it’s only natural that some people immediately grab their smartphone and start posting away. But when you have a personal injury case, it’s very important that you hold off on doing anything on social media related to your injuries.
Your Posts Can Come Back to Haunt You
Every public post you make can be considered public statements about your injury, and that means they can be used against you in court. If you make a joke about being clumsy, the defense could use this post as evidence that their client was not at fault. Don’t post anything about your accident, your injuries, or your case. If you do post something, keep it as non-specific as possible, and ever say anything that could be seen as an admission of fault. Keep all of these posts private or limited to only friends, too.
You May Violate a Court Order
While it’s not that common, it is possible for a judge to issue a gag order in your personal injury case. This has happened in the past when people have filed personal injury claims that involve products or public entities. Companies often ask judges to issue gag orders so that negative information about their products is not made public. If this has occurred in your case, posting anything online about the identity of the company that made the product, the product itself, or any information that could be used to identify the company would violate the gag order and could land you in jail.
Be Careful with Non-Related Posts
Did you just go to a concert or a party? Having fun playing catch with your son? If you put that on social media just a few weeks after an accident, it’s very likely the other party will submit these posts to show that your injuries aren’t that bad at all. You’re up and having fun, so you can’t be in that much pain, right? Even if you say that you took pain medication and were only out for an hour, these posts are going to hurt your case. Your best bet is to truly go into a social media blackout until your case has been resolved.
If you have any questions about how to use social media while you’re dealing with a personal injury case, contact Held & Hines, LLP, today. We will discuss your case and how you should proceed.
Posted in: Personal Injury, Uncategorized
