Social media has become a part and parcel of our lives today. It has acquired the status of an inevitable presence at not just important events, but also in our daily lives. A recent study entitled “Litigation in the Facebook Age: Creative Discovery Through Cutting-Edge Internet Research On Parties and Witnesses” explores the increasing role of social media in litigation.

Statistics reveal that there were 18.2 million Facebook users in Canada in 2016 and those numbers are projected to scale up to 19.6 in 2020. More than half the users are women and 84% of young Canadians use it regularly. Microblogging site Twitter had a 37% penetration in Canada and these figures are set to grow.

Contrary to popular assumptions, social media usage is not restricted to young people. Parents and grandparents use these social media extensively, most often to connect with friends and family all over the world.

As experienced car accident lawyers and slip and fall injury lawyers, we keep abreast of social media trends and are aware of their impact on personal injury litigation.

Effect On Your Personal Injury Claim

It’s important to understand that it’s not just your friends and family who have access to social media. Today, when you apply for a job or plan to go on a date it’s possible that information you provided is cross-checked with what you have put out there on a social media site. Relationships, interests, qualifications, education, employment, events, friends, political affiliations, attitudes, behavior, networks and activities are all available in the form of posts, comments, photographs etc.

Social media sites provide a rich mine of information that could go back years. Courts are increasingly allowing such information to be produced as evidence in ongoing trials.

A recent case was reported of a young British Columbia woman who had been injured in an accident. She claimed that her life had changed and that she was depressed and socially cut off from her previous routines. However, her claim was rejected by the BC Supreme Court. Pages from her Facebook account were produced to counter her claim. They showed her in a variety of social settings with friends/family, apparently leading a happy and healthy social life, which were “completely inconsistent” with her claim of suffering from psychological trauma.

Pictures on Instagram or Facebook that are inconsistent with your claim can damage your case. Since social media posts are date-stamped, this enables the defendants to establish where and when these events took place, providing further damaging evidence. Evidence from such posts can contradict your claims of physical injury, loss of income/earning-capacity, pain and suffering, cognitive impairment, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.

Defendants, their lawyers and insurers use every available means to gather information. Simple, innocent remarks like “Mowed lawn today” can destroy your claim of having a back injury, though in fact you may have only watched your kids doing it!

Google searches can provide information about financial status, the kind of home you live in, employment and salary, business, travel, shopping, relationships, schools/colleges attended, health status etc.

Our experienced Brampton personal injury lawyers advise clients to avoid social media through the duration of their claim.