Monthly Archives: June 2015

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Sarah Tombasso was involved in two car accidents, and claimed that she was suffering from depression, but lost thousands of pounds in compensation, when the court pulled almost 200 pages from her Facebook, showing her enjoying social activities with friends – they said that it wasn’t the behaviour of someone coping with psychological trauma. It’s that easy to lose a case, thanks to the online world you live in, so personal injury claimants need to be especially careful of how they portray themselves.

When making a personal injury claim, lawyers often advise their clients to eschew social media, while the case is in court. Although you may think that your Facebook profile is private, you need to think again. Whatever you post on social media can be used against you, in a personal injury case, and it can be hard to argue against any material that you have posted online.

Unfortunately, many of us like to project a positive depiction of our life on social media – regardless of personal pain – and yet any happy pictures of you online could be used as an example of you enjoying your life; undermining the impact of your personal injury claim, and any additional psychological claims. Even after you delete a post or picture, it’s still surprisingly accessible for anyone who knows where to look.

If you’re claiming a loss of enjoyment of life, appearing happy on your Twitter or social media accounts could be thrown back at you in a court of law. Showing pictures of you going out with friends and living your life could be used as evidence that your personal injury claims are insubstantial. Tread carefully online.

What Will Be Used In A Personal Injury Court?

Photographs

Lawyers will often search social media sites, to try to find evidence of you lying about the difficulties you’ve experienced with your personal injury. If you’ve claimed a back injury, which was your employer’s fault, if they can find an image (or evidence) of you lifting heavy things (such as, a child), or dancing the night away with your friends, they may deduce that your personal injury claim is false.

Comments

If they can access your comments somehow, and you have written anything that contradicts your personal injury claim, this will also be used as evidence against you. Leaving happy and upbeat social media comments can harm your case, and they may even use it to smear your character.

Applications

Videos of you, shared via applications, jumping around dynamically – or seemingly agile and well – will count hugely against you in a personal injury claim. It’s best to refrain from posting anything on the internet, until your court case has been settled. Deleting content may not mean that you can erase it altogether, and it will raise questions as to why you are attempting to cover your tracks.