It might not occur to everyone that using social media can hurt a personal injury claim. However, even seemingly harmless media – like birthday wishes or posts about social outings – can potentially compromise a case, say legal experts at DSC Attorneys.<\/p>\n
A legal team may argue that content shared online contradicts the details of a claim, including the claimed suffering and\/or impairment due to injury, the group said.<\/p>\n
“Lawyers may scour Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms for evidence to undermine an injured victim\u2019s claim for damages. Both public and private social media content may be admissible in court.<\/p>\n
“In a South African case, Harvey v Niland, <\/a><\/strong>the court ruled that even unlawfully obtained Facebook communications were admissible in a civil case.”<\/p>\n A warning from the US<\/strong><\/p>\n DSC Attorneys pointed to a personal injury case in the United States where a woman lost out due to a picture she posted on Facebook. Kathleen Romano suffered a back injury when her office chair collapsed. She instituted a claim against the chair manufacturer – Steelcase.<\/p>\n “She alleged that the chair was defective. She also claimed that her injury confined her largely to her home and led to a loss of enjoyment of life. The manufacturer\u2019s attorneys found a Facebook profile picture of Romano smiling and outside her home, along with MySpace postings featuring ‘smiley’ emojis,” DSC Attorneys said.<\/p>\n