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Woman taking a selfie with the words What You Post Can Cost You

How Social Media Can Affect a Personal Injury Claim

When it comes to social media and your injury claim, what you post can hurt you. Insurance companies and defense lawyers look at what you post, and photos or videos of you being active can be used to question how badly you’re hurt. While your case is open, the safest choice is not to post about yourself at all.

Thanks to social media, we can share with the world what we had for lunch, the latest cute thing our cat did to annoy the dog, and “I’m here, and you’re not” shots from our latest vacation. But as Marlo Greer points out in her own social media video on this topic, one thing you should NOT be posting about is your personal injury case. Or, more specifically, don’t post about yourself if you are bringing a personal injury case.

How Social Media Posts Can Affect an Injury Claim

There are a number of good reasons for this. If you’ve been injured and are or may be filing a lawsuit against anyone responsible for your injuries, things you post about yourself on social media “can and will be used against you” if your case goes to trial. Think about it from the perspective of an insurance company that is reviewing your injury claim. Or from the point of view of the jurors deciding whether your injury is the fault of the defendant and, if so, what you should be paid for your pain and suffering.

Examples of Posts That May Be Questioned

If you are claiming any type of debilitating injury but post videos of you riding a high-speed roller coaster (like the one in Marlo’s video), or even photos of you at an amusement park (Marlo was at Dollywood!), it could raise questions about how serious your injuries really are. Even if you stay off the fast rides, you could face questions about your amusement park visit. Questions like:

  • You had to walk a lot that day, didn’t you? Did your smartwatch record the number of steps?
  • What rides did you experience?
  • Are you sure you didn’t ride the rollercoaster?
  • Do you have any other pictures or videos from this visit?

This advice doesn’t just apply to theme park photos, of course. Posting videos or photos of you doing anything physical, such as bike riding, running in a local 5k, climbing ladders to clean your gutters, or anything similar, can end up coming back to haunt you, even if you were still in pain at the time.

Again, if you’ve been injured because of someone else’s negligence or intentional acts and are bringing a personal injury case, the best thing you can do is to stay off social media entirely, at least when it comes to posting about yourself. There is almost nothing good that can come from doing so, and depending on what you post, it could be twisted and used to hurt your case.

What About Posts You Already Made?

Don’t start deleting things on your own. Removing posts after an injury can create its own problems in a lawsuit. Instead, ask your lawyer what to do about posts that are already up and how to handle your accounts while your case is open.

Talking to a Lawyer About Your Injury Claim

At Greer Law, we focus our practice on helping clients who have been harmed by someone else recover compensation from those responsible. Whether it is a slip-and-fall, a car crash, medical malpractice, or sexual assault, we help injured people make those responsible for their harm pay. We know how defense counsel, insurance companies, and juries think, and we use that knowledge every day to help our clients collect the damages they are entitled to.

To schedule a free case evaluation, call Greer Law at 303-331-6460, or fill out our online contact form. And remember, if you’ve been injured because of somebody else’s negligence, stay off social media!