Can Your Facebook Page Take Down Your Injury Case?

It might.  Not only is “Big Brother” watching, but the car accident and liability claims insurance companies are as well.  Online social networking websites, such as MySpace and Facebook, have grown exponentially over the last few years.  Facebook, in fact, has recently reported that over 500 million people use their service.  This phenomenon is certainly understandable.  These sites provide a great way to stay in touch with friends, meet new people, and share information with whole communities.  For someone who is involved in a lawsuit, however, there is a potentially catastrophic side to these sites that can quickly unravel even meritorious cases

A recent trend in many courts across the United States involves treating the information posted on these sites as discoverable material.  What this means, is that injured victims who are forced to file lawsuits seeking reimbursements for the harms and losses caused by the defendants’ negligence may be faced with a Court order forcing all of their Facebook and MySpace information to be made available to the insurance company defense lawyers to be used against them in their case.  This information includes photos, wall posts, comments, and even private messages.

There are many measures being taken by the government to make sure that online social networking information remains private, but the fact of the matter is that presently this area of the law is very much up in the air.   Luckily, there are steps that a potential litigant can take to minimize the risk of potentially harmful information coming to the other side through these websites.  In tomorrow’s post, the Herndon, Loudoun and Leesburg law firm of ABRAMS LANDAU will look at the issues that arise with “discovering” social network content in injury case litigation.