Social Media Best Practices During a Personal Injury Case

Social media is a valuable tool for injured victims, but it can also be a double-edged sword. Making one post could be the difference between securing the settlement you deserve and receiving an undervalued, minimized claim. 

How to Handle Social media

Precedence for insurance adjusters using social media against claimants already exists, so you should be extremely careful with social media usage after being injured. Adjusters are searching for anything they can use to doubt your injuries or devalue your claim, so follow some general social media best practices until your case is fully resolved:

• Set your profile to private. The harder it is for adjusters to comb through your social media, the better—this way, even if you make a mistake, there’s a good chance that it might not be used against you. Note that truly innocent comments can’t be used against you in a prejudiced or unreasonable fashion, as that’d be a bad faith claim.
• Don’t talk about your injuries or case. You should avoid talking about the cause of your injuries, but also avoid discussing any pain you have or the treatment and recovery process. Adjusters will use comments like these to call the validity of your injuries into question. For example, even an innocent comment about “things being ok” could be interpreted to mean that you’ve been exaggerating your injuries and don’t deserve pain and suffering damages.
• Pictures are dangerous. Comments about your injuries are one thing, but a picture is worth a thousand words at times. In particular, photos of physical activity can be used to doubt your injuries and treatment; however, other pictures can be just as dangerous (such as a picture of you riding a motorcycle without a helmet after a motorcycle accident). Exercise common sense, and be aware that even innocent pictures can imply recklessness or lies.
• Make sure friends and family keep quiet too. Adjusters aren’t limited to your personal feed when searching for information—if a family member or friend posts any of the above information, that can be used against you all the same. Tell friends and family to keep references to you on social media to a minimum.
• If in doubt, stop posting. The best way to ensure that posts aren’t used against you is to stop posting altogether. Social media is important to many, but almost any personal injury attorney in Arizona will tell you time and time again just how advisable it is to stay off of social media.

Always Consult an Arizona Personal Injury Attorney

Social media is just one piece of the personal injury case puzzle, and there are countless other ways that you could unknowingly sabotage your compensation. Give us a call at (623) 877-3600 to schedule a free consultation with a Phoenix personal injury attorney at ELG who can handle your case on your behalf and advise you of what to do (and what not to do) as you go through the claims process.