Client Social Media Discovery for Plaintiff Attorneys

Case Law

Social Media Used as Evidence in Court Cases

Shaw v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company, 2018 WL 2183271 (M.D. Pa. May 11, 2018)

On March 8, 2021, the plaintiff sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident as a pedestrian…

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.”

However, the defendant’s summary judgment motion was granted as the court could not find that the defendant acted in bad faith pursuant to the Pennsylvania statute.

The court noted evidence of the plaintiff’s daily activities after the accident, including social media posts, which showed that plaintiff was very active casting doubt on her claims that the accident caused her to be “permanently lame, sore, and disabled”, as well as “permanent limitations.” For instance, some photographs of the plaintiff on social media showed her socializing, dancing, walking through Times Square, and wearing stilettos.

The court found that the plaintiff failed to establishthat the defendant acted in bad faith with respect to the handling of her UIM claim. Rather, the extensive record indicated that the defendant had reasonably attempted to gather all of the information necessary to properly evaluate the value of the plaintiff’s underlying claim against the tortfeasor, and that as a result of its investigation, it had a reasonable basis to conclude that the plaintiff’s underlying claim did not exceed $100,000.


Social media is being used as evidence in personal injury cases and you can no longer ignore what your clients post online. Private Footprint is a powerful 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 monitor 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.

Contact us today to learn more about Private Footprint and how you can start protecting the value of your files.

Make Sure Your Clients' Social Posts Aren’t Damaging Their Files