Social Media and
Auto Accidents
To pay you as little as possible following an accident, insurance companies will try to gather as much information as they can to undermine your personal injury claim. One of the ways they do this is by looking you up on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see what you are posting.
At the Sandel Law Firm in Akron, Ohio, we deal with claims adjusters on a daily basis. In a recent case, we called an insurance company two days after our client was injured in an accident. The insurance adjuster had already done a social media search on our client, looking for ammunition to use against my client.
INSIDER KNOWLEDGE
Here are some examples of things that insurance companies are looking for:
What are you saying to your friends about the accident and your injuries?
Are you still doing the same activities after the accident as before?
Are you posting pictures of yourself on social media? What do the pictures say about your injury?
Did you say anything that does not match up with something you told the insurance company?
Did you go on vacation when you told the insurance company you were too injured to do so?
Even innocent statements can be used against you in a personal injury claim. For example, if you try to reassure your friends by saying you are fine, the insurance company can use that statement as evidence that you were not seriously injured.