The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) estimates that in 2019, 198,313 car accidents occurred in Florida, and approximately 64 percent of these accidents caused injuries. Suffering injuries in a sudden crash can be a traumatizing experience, and people often share such experiences on their social media accounts.
While letting your friends and family from afar know what happened can seem like a sensible thing to do, it can be risky and might jeopardize your legal injury claim. Always speak with a Boca Raton personal injury lawyer about what you should or should not post on social media about your accident and injuries.
How Posting Accident Details on Social Media Could Hurt You
It’s understandable that you may want to vent out your feelings, frustrations, and anger on social media. However, know that insurance companies are trying to limit your settlement, and they have investigators who can comb your social media accounts for any information to use against your claim. An insurer could use your posts in any or all of the following ways.
Blame You for Negligence
You are most likely to say the wrong things when you are distressed and angry. You could end up saying something the insurer could use to blame you for the accident. For instance, you may accidentally talk of how you “never saw the car coming” or how you “couldn’t stop in time.” A clever insurance investigator might twist this to allege that you were distracted while driving.
Downplay Your Injuries
Posting too much on your social media about the accident or private life could portray you as “a fake victim” because you might look physically and psychologically healthy. Posting photos or check-ins that show you are out and about – even if you are still in pain – can portray an image of someone whose injuries are not as serious as they claim.
Proceed with Caution on Social Media After an Accident
If you do go ahead and post about the accident or your life in general while a claim is pending, at the very least take the following precautions:
- Set your social media accounts to “private” to allow only your friends to see your posts. Even settings that allow “friends of friends” to see your posts can lead to insurance company access.
- Activate protection to prevent your friends from writing on your social media stream if your network allows it. Their comments might paint a different picture than an insurance claim.
- Don’t accept friend requests from strangers because they could be insurance company employees or agents seeking to investigate you.
To leave nothing to chance, stop posting on social media until you win your case. Update your trusted friends and family members privately and request them not to mention anything regarding your case online.
Have a Boca Raton Accident and Injury Lawyer on Your Side
Many people don’t realize how posting on social media or saying other things to insurers can put their claims in jeopardy. It is important to have the guidance of injury attorneys as soon as possible to prevent unnecessary delays or complications. Demand the Limits Personal Injury Attorneys is ready to help, so please contact us online or call 561-600-3555 for free today.
