In today's world, nearly everyone is connected to the Internet. Our information is online for our friends and families to keep in touch with us as our life moves on. However, the downside of this public online sphere is that while our friends and families can easily catch up with us and the goings-on of our day to day lives, so can many others. This can become particularly complicated if you have a personal injury case open.

Can Social Media Affect My Personal Injury Claim?

When you have an on-going personal injury claim, you will want to make sure you follow the usual precautions to prevent arriving at an unfair settlement, or losing your rights to proper compensation. While it is important to avoid the defendant's insurance company and to immediately seek proper and prompt medical treatment, you may be unaware of the potential threat to your case that lurks just at your fingertips: social media. Many cases can be thwarted simply by evidence obtained from plaintiff's accounts. While it is certainly possible to have evidence from social media stricken from the court record prior to a trial, one cannot simply depend on a judge to rule in favor of this every time. If you are pursuing a personal injury claim and you have active social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any others, follow these tips to prevent an online disaster from crippling your claim.

Do:

• Deactivate Your Account: The most secure and simple way to ensure no one uses your online presence against you is to simply avoid having one at all. Many social media websites allow users to temporarily deactivate their accounts for lengthy periods of time. Throughout the case, it may be helpful to consider this option, as the defense may find your account and attempt to use anything on it against you in court.
• Heavily Increase Privacy Functions: Nowadays, a majority of social media networks allow users to customize and tailor their privacy measures to suit their own needs. If you are unable or unwilling to part with your social media presence for whatever reason, it may be helpful to increase your privacy measures. However, it is important to remember not to add anyone you are unfamiliar with once your privacy has been increased.

Don't:

• Post Pictures Or Videos: While you may want to document your recovery from your injuries online through photos or videos, this can be extremely harmful to your case. If the defense accesses your social media account, they will use these photos to attempt to show that your injuries were not serious.
• Allow Friends To "Tag" You: While your friends may want to "tag" you in posts to show that you were out somewhere, the defense will use this as an opportunity to attack your case. Getting "tagged" at certain locations, such as a gym, bar, or other social area will be used to show that you have recovered.

It is important to remember that announcing things to social media often places them in a public sphere. Again, while at times a person's expectation of privacy may be argued in court to prevent online evidence from being accepted into a case, not every judge will rule the same way for a case, and it is always better to be safe than sorry.

If you or your loved one has been injured in the state of Pennsylvania, contact the Brod Law Firm today. Call Toll Free 1-888-435-7946 anytime for free no obligation consultation.