The Risks of Oversharing on Social Media After a Car Accident

While you’re not prohibited from posting on social media during litigation, our law firm asks our clients to refrain to safeguard their rights to compensation. Oversharing on social media is risky because any post can be taken out of context and used against you, and subpoenas can turn private content into evidence. Even if you avoid sharing personal details, it’s easy for the opposing attorney to twist a picture or caption and use it to minimize your injuries or damages.

If you’re involved in a personal injury dispute, sharing a seemingly innocent Instagram picture, tweet, or Facebook status update can give the opposing side ammunition to challenge your claim. If you’re unsure how a post can be detrimental, or if you’re concerned about social media being used as evidence in court, read on for guidance from our car accident attorneys.

While your legal team is gathering car accident evidence, the opposing party is, too. If you continue to tweet or update your status, you could unintentionally jeopardize your claim. While many people think oversharing on social media is harmless, it can be damaging for legal cases and introduce liabilities for several reasons.

Online Content Is Evidence in an Accident Claim

The opposing party may allege you’re to blame for the crash or minimize your personal injury claim to try to avoid paying. Opposing attorneys often use social media posts as evidence that your injuries are less severe than claimed. A post with a photo of you smiling at a BBQ can be used to insinuate you aren’t truly in pain because you look happy. If a friend tags you at an event, the other party might allege you’re going about your regular routine. Your legal team will need to challenge the admissibility of social media evidence, which brings additional distractions. Ultimately, if a post is legitimate and relevant, the content is usually fair game.

Social Posts Can Be Taken Out of Context

Status updates and social posts are an excellent way to stay connected with family and friends, but these communications provide evidence for the opposing party after a car accident. Let’s say you post, “Finally got out of the house for the night. I really needed this!” The other lawyer could use your words to demonstrate that you’re healthy and happy, regardless of whether it was a one-time outing or you left early not feeling well. Even if a photo is clearly dated before the accident, opposing attorneys may claim it reflects your current condition.

Private Posts Aren’t Safe From Subpoenas

Setting your social media accounts to private doesn’t totally protect you. A judge may order you to turn over your posts, private messages, and other online activity as evidence; this can include archived stories and deleted content in some cases. Failing to abide by a subpoena can result in serious legal consequences.

While you might not have shared accident details, a meme, photo, or joke can be twisted to insinuate guilt. For example, if you share a joke featuring a clumsy character, the other lawyer can allege that you agree with the sentiment and that your own clumsiness caused the crash. Though this seems like a stretch, insurance companies will do anything to get out of paying a claim.

Reposted Content Can Still Hurt Your Case

When you’re involved in a personal injury dispute, the at-fault party’s defense team will turn over every stone on your social channels to put together a timeline before or after the incident. Photos published by friends or family, posts mentioning you, and even location check-ins can be used against you.

Social media used as evidence in court can include images, words, memes, or other content, and it can minimize how a jury perceives your injuries and the resulting compensation. Before you post, consider whether the tweet, story, image, or status update will potentially hurt your case by introducing:

Contradictions

Avoid discussing the accident, your injuries, doctor visits, or legal updates. The other party can use any contradictions, no matter how minimal or unintentional, to damage your credibility.

Medical records are critical proof of injuries that you don’t want to compromise. How you explain your injuries might contradict the language your doctor uses. Documenting your version (even digitally) turns social media content into evidence that can be used to challenge your injury claim.

Apologies or Fault

Explanations such as “I crashed my car,” or “I totaled my new ride” can be used to insinuate that you caused the wreck—even if you didn’t mean those posts literally. Pictures can also be used as admissions. A photo with your arm in a sling captioned, “Be careful out there!” makes it seem like you weren’t careful (and caused the crash). These might feel like innocent statements, but the other party is waiting to discover accidental admissions on social media and exploit them in court.

Emotional Language

Many people go online to get things off their chest and connect with people who feel the same. Oversharing on social media in a ranting or angry post jeopardizes your claim by damaging your:

• Character: Posting about a personal injury dispute can make you sound vindictive and reduce a jury’s empathy for you.
• Credibility: When you’re writing in the heat of the moment, you might incorrectly recap the incident or accident, diminishing jurors’ trust in you.
• Merit: Publishing an angry rant on social media about the at-fault party or their insurance provider can insinuate you’re filing a lawsuit out of revenge, rather than to recoup compensation for genuine injuries.

Accident Scene Photos

It’s important to take photos and videos after an accident, but posting them on social media is a mistake. An image of your car at a deceptive angle or a cropped image of the vehicles involved can be used to change the narrative and refute your claim. Don’t give the other party additional opportunities to analyze the scene (out of context) or come up with a different version of events using your social media pictures as evidence. If you’re narrating the crash scene video, words spoken off-the-cuff or while in shock may also be admissible in court.

Opposing lawyers, insurance adjusters, and the person who caused the crash will all turn to social media to learn who they are up against. These parties will scour your feeds for mistakes to try to diminish your character and trustworthiness. Keep these tips in mind to button up your online presence during a personal injury dispute:

• Tighten privacy settings (but remember private doesn’t mean it’s safe from subpoenas or reposts).
• Avoid sharing photos, status updates, or check-ins that might show physical activity.
• Avoid responding to comments about your accident.
• Be up front with your lawyer about anything you’ve already published or potentially damaging posts.
• Talk to friends and family and ask them to refrain from tagging you (or posting about you at all) in case their accounts are under surveillance.
• Limit new connections. Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know; it could be the opposing party trying to access hidden content.
• Consider a full break from social media until your case is resolved.

Tell your attorney right away if you’ve posted to social media after a car accident, but do not edit or delete anything without permission from your legal team. Removing, altering, or deleting social media content may be considered tampering or destruction of evidence and could negatively impact your case. Be transparent with your attorney about anything questionable on your accounts so they can take steps to mitigate any harm the story, tweet, or status update might cause.

Social media might seem like the place to turn for support during a car accident dispute, but turn to an attorney instead. It only takes one careless post or selfie to jeopardize an injury claim. Before you post again, contact the attorneys at Miller Law Group. We’ll help safeguard your claim and maximize your compensation.