How Your Social Media Posts Can Negatively Impact Your Personal Injury Lawsuit

One of the most important elements in a personal injury lawsuit is proving your injuries. It isn't uncommon for the prosecution to try and say that you're overstating or faking your injuries. And, with social media announcing things faster than actual news outlets, it is crucial that you protect yourself by watching what you post online in order to avoid sabotaging yourself and your lawsuit. Here are a couple of instances in which social media posts can negatively impact your suit:

Accidentally Posting Incriminating Evidence of Yourself.

When you take to Facebook, Twitter, etc., you often share your feelings or your latest exploits. Unfortunately, when you're in the middle of a personal injury case, this is the last thing you should be doing. More than likely, you are suing because you are severely injured – or that's what you're saying. If you post pictures that show otherwise, you will not only be at risk of losing your lawsuit, but you may be potentially facing fraud charges as well.

Although not a personal injury case per say, an example of this would be a woman who was trying to get alimony out of her husband because she was disabled. However, her husband ended up stumbling across a belly dancing blog, which clearly showed the woman was not as disabled as she had initially claimed.

After the Fact: Confidential Settlement Terms Revealed.

In many cases, once you have settled a personal injury claim, there is a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that you must sign. This simply states that you will not share the terms of the settlement with anyone. If you go on your Facebook after signing the NDA and say something about the amount of money that you are receiving or that the other party knew they were wrong so they settled, you could be at risk of losing that monetary award. This is what happened to a former headmaster in Florida after his daughter posted harsh words on Facebook.

Your Best Move Forward

Ultimately, your best bet is to put Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social media network that you use to the side during the course of your personal injury claim. It's better to be safe than sorry, because it only takes a small slip-up on your part to bring your claim crumbling down. If you need help filing a personal injury claim or need information regarding the law on statute of limitations or the paperwork necessary, contact a local personal injury lawyer like James Lee Katz.

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