Client Social Media Reports for Personal Injury and Disability Lawyers
Today, you’re getting a letter from opposing counsel telling you not to get rid of your client’s social media accounts and posts. When you agree to preserve this information, should you not know what your client has posted? Has a personal injury and disability lawyer’s understanding of social media evidence become a standard of care?
Private Footprint was developed to provide lawyers with full visibility into their clients’ past and present social media activity. It is designed to protect both you and your clients. But more importantly, it can help increase the settlement value of your clients’ files.
Your Clients are Damaging their Files
Examples of plaintiff lawsuits against insurers and others being dismissed because of irresponsible social media activity by clients are rampant. Lawyers need to understand their client’s social media habits and the risks posed by the information they share on their accounts. To do this, lawyers need sophisticated tools to fight back and protect their files.
Protect the Value of Your File
Protect Your Practice and Increase Revenue
Painting a picture of your clients’ life before their injury or illness is instrumental in maximizing the value of their claim. By using pre-date-of-loss social history, you can build a compelling report in minutes that can help increase the value of their settlement.
By the time you meet your clients for the first time, the damage may have already been done. Quickly run a report of their social accounts to assess if they are indeed a file you want to invest in.
Law clerks and paralegals can spend several hours every week scouring through client social media accounts and manually cutting and pasting posts to compile reports. Instead, posts from various platforms are fed into one dashboard for easy viewing and professional reports can be instantly generated.
For many clients suffering from an injury or illness, social media is a rare outlet. What they post may seem innocent to them but can easily be misrepresented by the opposing side and misinterpreted by a judge or jury. Our data shows that lawyers who implement Private Footprint see a massive decrease or complete stop to client social media activity.
As more case law emerges confirming the detrimental effect that social media usage can have on client settlements values, lawyers can no longer ignore their client’s social media history and ongoing activities. Read examples of case law.
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How Private Footprint Works
Private Footprint makes it easy for your clients to provide you access to their social media content. It is a powerful permission-based tool that allows lawyers to quickly view, organize, and make sense of the overwhelming volume of social media content generated by clients. You can easily review social activity for each client separately, flag specific posts, and quickly generate detailed reports which document your client’s lives before and after life-altering events such as personal injury, illness, and disability. Evidence-quality reports can be generated in minutes and easily customized to your needs.
Historical Reports
Go back up to 5 years before Date of Loss or Denial of Disability to build a client’s historical profile.
Ongoing Review
Keep an eye on your clients’ social activity and quickly educate them about acceptable social media activity.
Tangible Evidence
Easily create reports for discovery prep, mediation, settlement memos, or evidence at trial.
Recoverable Disbursement
Pay a nominal flat fee per file, individually itemized for ease of a list of assessable disbursements.
Private Footprint is not a repository and does not own or have the ability to edit the content on your client’s social media accounts or see any private communication. Your client’s social media content is and will remain the property of each social platform and subject to its terms of use that users have accepted. Access to client social accounts is permission-based and done on behalf of the law firm without the privacy breach of asking the client for a username or password.
Case Law Articles
Montana Court Grants Access to Plaintiff’s Social Media Activity
Keller v National Farmer Union Prop. & Cas., 2013 WL 27731 In Keller v National Farmer Union Prop. & Cas., the defendant insurer argued that it was entitled to information on the plaintiff’s social media sites to assess her credibility following her claim for damages after alleging to have suffered physical and emotional injuries due […]
Social Media Activity Reveals False Claims of Plaintiff’s Restricted Physical Abilities in Montana
Rhone v Schneider Nat’l Carriers, Inc., 2016 WL 1594453 In Rhone v Schneider Nat’l Carriers, Inc., evidence retrieved from the plaintiff’s social media sites contradicted her claims of physical injuries and impairments that resulted from a motor vehicle accident. During the defendant’s private investigation, they found relevant information on the plaintiff’s public social media profiles. […]
Texas Court sides with defence social media evidence against plaintiff’s LTD claims
Davis v Aetna Life Ins. Co., 2017 In Davis v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., the plaintiff’s social media evidence cast doubts on her alleged health condition in a long-term disability (LTD) dispute. The plaintiff was diagnosed with a health condition which she claimed had affected her physical activity and work capabilities. Consequently, she filed a […]
New York Court Limits Defendant’s Access to Plaintiff’s Social Media Accounts in Personal Injury Case
Kregg v. Maldonado, 951 N.Y.S2d 301 In Kregg v. Maldonado, a New York decision, the defendants discovered that family members of the injured plaintiff had created Facebook and MySpace accounts for the plaintiff and posted on his behalf. The defendants requested the disclosure of all these social media accounts. While there was no contention that […]
Court rejects social media evidence submitted by defendants in British Columbia personal injury case
Luck v. Shack, 2019 BCSC 1172 In Luck v. Shack, the primary issue was whether the plaintiff’s ability to work full-time was impacted by her accident. The defendants attempted to discredit the plaintiff’s claims by introducing social media posts which showed the plaintiff engaging in post-accident activities that supposedly contradicted her claims that she had difficulty […]
Social Media Evidence Used to Prove Plaintiff’s Active Lifestyle in Michigan Personal Injury Case
Black v. Metro Life Ins. Co., 244 F Supp 3d 625 (WD Mich 2017) at 628 Black v Metropolitan Life Insurance Company involves an appeal from the trial court’s decision to eliminate the claimant’s benefits under her insurance policy. The plaintiff, who was involved in a motor vehicle accident, alleged that her injuries prevented her from […]
Louisiana Court Allows Social Media Evidence in Personal Injury Case
Ehrenberg v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., No. 16-17269, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132036 (E.D. La. Aug. 18, 2017) at 3 Ehrenburg v. State Farm Insurance deals with a situation where the defendant filed a motion to compel the production of the plaintiff’s social media profiles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The defendant alleged that […]
Social Media Evidence Used to Support Findings of Fraud in Michigan Personal Injury Case
In Yousif v. State Farm, the plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a motor vehicle collision. The plaintiff submitted a claim for benefits that included household replacement services and attendant care. He further alleged that he was bedridden due to the pain and was unable to perform daily activities.
Social Media Evidence Used to Reduce Awarded Damages in California Personal Injury Case
In Sedie v US, the plaintiff was hit by a postal truck when riding a bicycle. The plaintiff claimed that his injuries limited him from working or pursuing his career and sought damages of $2.5 million. Relying on social media evidence, the court found that the plaintiff, despite his injuries, was exaggerating the extent of his pain.
New York Court Orders Plaintiff to Produce Facebook Profile for In Camera Review
In Richards v. Hertz, the plaintiff claimed she sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident that impaired her ability to play sports. After finding a publicly shared photo on Facebook of the plaintiff skiing after the accident, the defendants sought to have the social media postings admitted as evidence.
Social Media Used to Undermine Plaintiff’s Credibility in British Columbia Case
In Raikou v. Spencer, social media evidence was used to undermine the plaintiff's credibility to bolster the claim that the plaintiff tended to exaggerate the extent of her injuries. The plaintiff claimed damages for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. As a result of the ongoing pain, she claimed that she was unable to participate in many of the activities she did prior to the accident.
Florida Court states potential relevancy of photographs on social media outweigh burden of production or privacy interest
In Davenport v. State Farm, the court in Florida allowed plaintiff’s social media photos as evidence in a personal injury case. The plaintiff argued that the discovery request is “not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence when the request is overly broad and improperly invades the plaintiff’s privacy.”
Social Media Posts and Photos Included as Evidence in Pennsylvania Personal Injury Case
The plaintiff alleged that the accident caused her to suffer a loss of everyday pleasures and enjoyment of life due to “permanent limitations due to the pain, discomfort, and inconvenience to her back, neck, and body.”
Learn About Private Footprint at The Trial Lawyers Association of BC Seminar
Private Footprint is proud to be a sponsor of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC (TLABC) seminar to be held virtually on February 19th. This year’s seminar is only available to TLABC members who limit their practice in the area of personal injury or wrongful death to working exclusively for plaintiffs.
Social Media Posts Used to Establish That Father Cannot Act as Principled-Decision Maker – Alberta
In M.J.M v A.D., social media posts were used to establish that the father could not act as a principled-decision maker for his child, despite seeking primary guardianship.
BC Supreme Court States Social Media Posts Show “snapshot in time”
In Kim v Sodhi, the plaintiff argued that before the accident he maintained an active life which he could no longer do without feeling pain and discomfort.
Facebook Photos Termed Discoverable in Florida Personal Injury Case
In Nucci v. Target Corp., the plaintiff brought a personal injury action against the retail store alleging that she slipped and fell on a foreign substance on the floor.
Evidence from Social Media Used to Discredit Plaintiff’s Claim – Ontario
In Smith v Jarnell, the defendant sought production of all the plaintiff’s posts and photos from his social media accounts that showed him participating in activities or going on trips since the accident.
Ontario Superior Court Rules Injured People Are Not Obligated to Share Medical Symptoms on Social Media
In M.D. v The Co-operators General Insurance Company, the Court found that the social media evidence was unconvincing as to whether or not the applicant suffered from post-concussion and chronic pain symptoms.
Social Media Evidence Used to Deny Income Replacement Benefits – Ontario
In NZ v Economical Insurance Co, the insurer reasonably withheld payments because surveillance evidence and social media evidence showed that the applicant was still involved with his company.
Evidence from Social Media Used to Discredit Plaintiff’s Claim – Newfoundland and Labrador
In Terry v Mullowney, the defendants presented evidence from Facebook showing the plaintiff’s “full and active” social life.
Social Media Successfully Used to Discredit Plaintiff’s Claims – Nova Scotia
In Gale v Purcell, the Court, partly because of social media evidence, found that the plaintiff did not prove beyond a balance of probabilities that her injuries were more than minor.
Court Denies Relevance of Plaintiff’s Blog and Social Media Content in Assessing Damages – BC
In Mullens v Toor, the Court denied the relevance of evidence that included the plaintiff’s internet blog and subsequent social media content when assessing damages.
Social Media Evidence Used to Discredit Plaintiff’s Claims – Ontario
In Moretto v Nicolini-Femia, social media evidence was used to discredit the plaintiff’s claims. The plaintiff was bit by a dog at a party. An action was brought forth for damages related to post-injury scarring, specifically as it related to the plaintiff’s psychological well being.
Social Media Evidence Used in Limited Capacity on A Ruling for The Future Loss of Income – Nova Scotia
In MacVicar Estate v MacDonald, a ruling on damages for future loss of income used social media evidence in a limited capacity through the “snapshot” in time approach.
Social Media Used to Cast Doubt on Plaintiff’s Physical Limitations – Ontario
In Mudinger v Ashton, social media evidence was used against the plaintiff to cast doubt on the seriousness of her physical limitations post-accident.