Be careful with social media during your Missouri personal injury lawsuit. You may think you can’t live without Facebook or Twitter, but if you are in the middle of a personal injury lawsuit you should reconsider it. It is no secret that insurance adjusters and defense attorneys may physically follow and investigate people making claims against an insurance company in an effort to contradict claims of an injury–think of the private investigators you see on TV. Nothing will hurt your case more than to be photographed installing a playground in your backyard when you claim to have a back injury.
Those same insurance adjusters and defense attorneys may now also virtually follow you on Twitter and Facebook to see if you are making comments or posting photos that contradict what you are claiming. If you say you are hurt, but tweet about running a marathon or are posting photos of your latest ski vacation on Facebook, you can be sure that the insurance companies will use that against you. With Facebook profile may no longer be a private as you think because even if your settings are private, you can’t control the settings of all of your friends that could allow strangers access to photos or postings.
While you should never lie to your attorney and a responsible personal injury attorney won’t lie for you, you don’t want to give the insurance company anything they could manipulate or be misinterpreted to bring any questionable element to your workers comp or personal injury case. Remember, the goal of the insurance company is to pay you as little as possible for your injury. So while your injury case is outstanding, take a break from social media so you don’t jeopardize your chances for a positive settlement or victory in the courtroom. Afterwards, when you are satisfied with the outcome of your case, you can then tweet to everyone about how good you feel and perhaps even about how good a job your Springfield work comp personal injury lawyer did for you!