Client Social Media Discovery for Plaintiff Attorneys

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Navigating Social Media Production Requests

Social media production requests in personal injury cases are becoming increasingly common and challenging for plaintiff attorneys to manage. While these requests often overreach in scope and invade privacy, courts are granting them more frequently in many jurisdictions across the country. Plaintiff attorneys must balance protecting their clients’ privacy with complying with requests to produce relevant evidence. Outright objections are increasingly ineffective and driving unfavourable case law for plaintiffs.

Below is a suggested approach on how to handle these requests while minimizing risks and workload.

Object – But Not Outright

Most defense requests for social media content are vague and far-reaching, demanding “all social media activity” over many years. These requests can include photos, videos, posts, and private messages that have no relevance to the case. Rather than outrightly objecting to overly broad and intrusive demands, a more strategic approach involves producing what is reasonable from the outset. By doing so, plaintiff attorneys set the tone for negotiations and shift the onus onto the defense to justify bringing a motion to compel the production of irrelevant or overreaching demands.

Produce Reasonable Content and Control the Process

Proactively producing reasonable and relevant social media content positions the plaintiff attorney as cooperative and prepared. It also demonstrates a good-faith effort to comply with discovery obligations, leaving the court with a favorable impression of the plaintiff’s position. By approaching production reasonably, if the matter escalates to court, judges are more likely to agree with the plaintiff’s fair approach. This clean-handed strategy encourages courts to develop case law that supports reasonable, narrowly tailored production requests, rather than endorsing fishing expeditions that favour the defence.

Here are several strategies for producing reasonable content:

Relevant Timeframes

  • Limit production to posts made within a specific timeframe, such as starting six months before the injury through the present.

Specific Platforms

  • Exclude platforms unlikely to contain relevant content, focusing only on major platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) the client actively used.

Type of Content

  • Exclude irrelevant data like private messages or non-public interactions, focusing only on posts and photos visible to others.

Activity Filters

  • Limit the request to content related to the plaintiff’s physical activities, social engagements, or emotional state.

Exclusion of Metadata

  • Exclude unnecessary metadata like location data, device information, or system logs that can reveal more than what’s needed.

This proactive approach contrasts with outright denial, which may appear obstructive and allow insurance companies to drive case law unfavorably for plaintiffs.

Exclude Meta Data from Social Media Posts

The Danger of Court-Ordered Data Dumps

When courts compel production, they often require plaintiffs to download their full social media history using platform tools. This process generates massive files containing years of private, irrelevant, and potentially damaging data, far beyond what is required. By taking the initiative to provide reasonable production early, plaintiff attorneys reduce the likelihood of such intrusive orders and maintain control over what is disclosed.

The Time-Consuming Reality of Manual Production

Manually sorting social media content requires significant effort from paralegals and legal staff. Tasks like gaining access to clients’ accounts, downloading posts, cutting and pasting relevant data, sorting videos, and organizing responses commonly consume between 6 to 12 hours of legal staff time per request. This diverts resources away from other critical tasks and increases costs.

How Private Footprint Simplifies the Process

File Opening Checklist
Private Footprint offers an efficient solution to streamline social media production requests. For a flat fee of $100 (plus taxes) per file, our platform allows your clients to grant access to their social accounts so all their posts are available to you on one centralized firm dashboard.

Once clients grant access and their content is available to you, our platform allows your team to quickly customize production reports to include only relevant posts, saving hours per file, ensuring compliance, and protecting your clients and the value of their files. We invite you to Request a Demo.

Conclusion

By proactively producing reasonable social media content and avoiding blanket refusals, plaintiff attorneys can protect their clients, streamline workflows, and avoid unnecessary court motions. This approach ensures compliance while positioning plaintiffs as cooperative, ultimately safeguarding the value of personal injury cases.