Social media is an important part of all of our lives and many people love to post about all aspects of their life. However, after you have been in a car accident in Baltimore or Ocean City, you want to be careful what you post on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter because it could be used against by an insurance company or its attorneys in fighting your claim.
It’s important to avoid social media mistakes that will make it easier for the other side in a car accident to deny your claim.
Or course, you don’t want to post details or pictures about the accident on social media. Attorneys for the other side will comb though these looking for fault on your part. Remember, Maryland is a contributory negligence state, not a comparative negligence state, which means that any finding of fault on your part will provide the means for the other side to deny your claim altogether. An Ocean City car accident lawyer can provide more details on Maryland’s use of contributory negligence in personal injury claims.
You also don’t want to answer questions from friends posed through social media about how you are doing. Don’t post updates about your injuries or your progress in healing. In the event of a Baltimore or Ocean City car accident, you don’t need this information in a public forum.
In fact, you might want to consider not posting anything until your auto accident claim is resolved. Insurance companies and their attorneys work hard to make sure that the insurer pays as little as possible when an accident is reported. If you share a photo of yourself dancing with friends or going on a trip after the accident, the other side can argue that your injuries weren’t severe enough to justify the compensation you are seeking. They might also argue that you aren’t entitled to any compensation at all because you had the health and energy to go dancing, to the amusement park or to happy hour with friends.
Be very careful about check-ins after an auto accident. For example, if you’re claiming serious injuries, don’t check in from the local gym and talk about the great workout that you just completed.
And, if you realize that some of your postings after the accident might adversely affect your claim and delete them, your actions could be viewed as destruction of relevant evidence.
Under the law, both the insurance company and defense counsel have the right to demand access to your social media accounts to gather any evidence that is relevant to the case, including photos, videos, timeline conversations, and location check-ins. Courts have ruled that even private Facebook posts can be subject to discovery if they are relevant. A court in a nearby state said that when a person has filed a claim against another party for injuries, the other party has a right to review their medical records and other information, including social media. In another instance, another court ruled that a woman’s Instagram posts were admissible as evidence in her personal injury case.
Strict privacy settings that limit who can see your posts might not be much help in the event of a Baltimore or Ocean City car accident because a friend might share the post and the other side could discover that post and use it to fight your claim.
Also, if you have recently been in a Maryland auto accident, be careful about accepting friend requests and pay attention to who starts to follow you. The request might be from an employee or associate of an insurer or a defense attorney who has been tasked with finding out whether or not you are injured.
Maronick Law, LLC is open during the pandemic and will continue to meet your Glen Burnie, Annapolis, Baltimore, Essex, Ocean City, Towson, White Marsh auto accident needs. If you’ve been in a motor vehicle accident, you should talk to a car accident attorney. An Ocean City auto accident lawyer can make sure that you are fully compensated for your injuries and expenses while recovering from the auto accident.
If you have access to Zoom, we can meet with you remotely. The consultation is free. You can contact Thomas Maronick on his cellphone at 202.288.0167, the law office at 410.402.5571 or via the website.