Social media can be a blessing and a source of acute embarrassment at times. For many people these days, it might seem hard to even imagine the days when just about everything that happens to you is discussed endlessly on one social media platform or another. Most people have often become aware that they need to be a little more careful about what they post if they are applying for a promotion or a new job. Prospective employers may be in the habit of taking a look at more than just LinkedIn, which is commonly used as a personal profile for professional purposes. Now it seems that social media sites may also be the subject of attention by insurance providers if you have been involved in an accident.
By ‘insurance providers’ what is meant is the insurer who may be asked to cough up a substantial amount of money in compensation if their client is proven to have been responsible for an injury. Insurers do not particularly like giving out compensation willy-nilly and rarely take the plaintiff’s accounts of an accident at face value. A successful personal injury case after a serious accident and accompanying injury is something that must be taken very seriously by the injured victim. Any evidence that the claim has not offered the correct information or that there are inconsistencies in the account of the accident is likely to be pounced on by insurers. The higher the stakes, the more furiously will the insurer seek to avoid paying.
It might seem hard to avoid using your favorite social media sites to discuss the accident you had with friends and relatives, but it is advisable to keep off the topic completely, in case the insurance adjuster finds conflicting information on one of your posts or photos that you have posted which give a false idea of the severity of your injuries.
Basically, where social media mistakes have been made by unwary personal injury plaintiffs, they fall into these main categories:
- The accident itself is discussed in great detail with your friends and contacts on one or more of your social media sites. The insurance adjuster finds the account or accounts on a standard trawl through your posts and discovers that some of the details are not what has been given in the claim for compensation.
- The help you are getting from an attorney, or the lack of help, is discussed on one of your sites. You should communicate only with your attorney about the accident and particularly the claim. If you don’t have an attorney, then the more likely it is that you will be a target for
- References to your injury or lack of injury after the accident and boasting about the things that you have been doing could be interpreted as being evidence that your reported injuries were not as severe as you have claimed.
- Posting photos of you after the accident, even in all innocence, may reveal that your description of your injuries was exaggerated or in conflict with what you claimed, even if it wasn’t.
If you have been badly injured in a car accident or any other type of accident in which you were not to blame, it is vital that you contact a personal injury attorney as soon as your injuries allow you to do so. Take the advice given by your attorney who should advise you to be careful about your social media presence in case it prejudices your chance of obtaining much-needed compensation further down the track.
In Jackson, contact an experienced car accident attorney at the Diaz Law Firm to discuss your legal options and strategy after a bad accident. You can contact the Diaz Law Firm online or call us at 601-607-3456.