Social Media and Your Personal Injury Claim
Know and Protect Your Legal Rights with a Doan Law Firm Personal Injury Lawyer
If you are like a majority of Americans, you make use of at least one social media website. The most commonly utilized social media venues at this time include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. There are hundreds of other social media sites with smaller, although not negligible, followings.
You may be like a tremendous number of individuals, from all walks of life and of all ages, who chronicle the doings of your life in a good amount of detail on one or another social media venue. In fact, you may play out your comings and goings on multiple social media platforms.
You may find yourself playing a risky game when it comes to widely using social media in the aftermath of an accident in which you sustained a personal injury. A stark reality is that your use of social media could have a detrimental impact on your personal injury claim.
Following an accident caused by someone else's negligence, a key step you must take to best protect your rights and interests is to retain the services of a skilled, experienced personal injury lawyer. The Doan Law Firm is home to a legal team that includes sharp, tenacious, and committed personal injury lawyers, all of whom can be reached at (800) 349-0000. A Doan Law Firm personal injury lawyer can assist you in understanding what you should and should not do following an accident, including when and how you should use social media.
It's Not a Privacy Issue
Time and again, people post something on social media that comes back to haunt them. Whether this be in an employment setting, or even in the midst of a personal injury lawsuit, something posted on a social media website ends up having a negative impact. This can negatively impact a person's attempt to get a job, an existing course of employment, or even an attempt to obtain compensation in a personal injury lawsuit.
With surprising regularity, a person who regrets the impact of something he or she posted on social media cries "privacy!" The reality is that if you post something on social media, and if that something ends up impacting you in a negative manner, you cannot cry foul under the guise of privacy. By the very nature of social media, the moment you post something at such a venue, it is public.
If you are involved in a personal injury lawsuit, and you post something online that goes against your interests in your case, you cannot try to have it excluded from consideration in court on a claim of privacy. With the assistance of a well-seasoned personal injury attorney, you may be able to limit the damage associated with this type of occurrence, however.
Social Media Posts and Your Physical Injury Claim
Odds are a major element of your personal injury case is that you sustained physical injuries as the result of someone else's negligence. As a result, you likely are seeking compensation for losses like medical bills but also to provide you financial recovery for pain and suffering.
As you pursue an insurance claim or a lawsuit, you have to be very sure you never post anything online that will contradict your claims for actual physical injuries or pain and suffering. As elementary as this admonition seems, it is violated time and again by people in personal injury cases.
For example, even while recovering from physical injuries, even when you are in pain as a result of your injuries, you may be physically able to go with your friends to a nightclub. However, you must make absolutely certain that you do not engage in activities that potentially jeopardize not just your physical recovery, but your legal case.
Keep in mind that it's not just photos that can play a role in harming your personal injury claim. What you write on Facebook, Twitter, or elsewhere can also cause damage to your case if you do not take care in what is posted.
In addition, you need to wean yourself off of taking photos of yourself when you are out and about. While there may be perfectly acceptable reasons why you are at a certain location, reasons that do not in any way contradict the claims you make in your case, can transmit the wrong impression. In a personal injury case, even perception matters.
Social Media Posts and Your Emotional Distress Claim
If your case includes a claim for emotional distress, you also need to take great care in what you post. If your social media feeds are filled with happy events and enjoyable recapitulations of your day, you actually may be laying the groundwork for an insurance company to use in defending against your emotional distress claim.
Once again, a skilled personal injury attorney can assist you in navigating through these waters. A lawyer from our firm can provide you with guidelines to assist you in maintaining your social media existence in an appropriate manner, as you seek a claim for justice and compensation.
Retain a Personal Injury Attorney from The Doan Law Firm
The best way you can protect your rights and interests is to be proactive in obtaining legal representation in your case. A personal injury attorney from The Doan Law Firm stands ready to meet with you immediately to discuss your case. In fact, you can make an appointment to meet with a personal injury attorney from our firm right now by calling (800) 349-0000.
We can schedule a meeting with you to discuss your case at one of our firm's offices, located across the United States. We can also arrange for a consultation at your home or a video consultation online, as your circumstances require. There is no fee charged for a preliminary meeting with a Doan Law Firm personal injury lawyer.