The Importance of Avoiding Social Media Discussions
The Dangers of Discussing Legal Matters on Social Media
It is said that the most important invention in the history of mankind was by a fellow named Gutenberg, who invented the Gutenberg printing press. The first book printed was the Bible. Without that invention and its progeny, the evolution from that, social media as we know it now would not exist.
Now social media is fun for the younger generations. I’m in my 60s, so we didn’t have social media back when I was in college or law school or the early decades of my career, and I thank goodness for that. But let me tell you why it’s a very bad thing in litigation. It can be very very dangerous.
I work as the head of the PI section for Wirth Law Office, and one of the things I’ve noticed as the head of the section, and if I didn’t say it, my name is Michael Ashworth, is that when I was working insurance defense, when I was working for the insurance companies, trying to pay as little as possible and trying to whittle down plaintiff’s cases, I would always go to social media.
The Power of Social Media in Litigation
Now I didn’t know how to use it, but my assistants did, and they would go on there, and it was amazing what people would be talking about related to their lawsuit. I had a case one time of a gentleman that got rear-ended here in Tulsa by a little old fellow from Arkansas, nice guy, just driving his pickup, was in town for a show of some kind, hits this guy at probably about 10 miles per hour or so over by the fairgrounds at a stop sign.
Guy complained of his back, oh my back, my back, my back, my back, and went that he was going to need two spinal fusions in his back, and that was going to cost $200,000. Well his wife just was a social media goddess, and she happened to post on there some photographs of this gentleman who coincidentally happened to be an MMA fighter, and we had a photograph that was taken of him doing a pile driver at someone.
Then we had pictures of him on a family Audi and some trips carrying heavy bags and things of that type. Now even if the pile driver preceded the accident, I don’t recall after these years if it preceded or postceded, it’s valuable for this reason because if it preceded and he’s doing those kinds of things, what is he doing? He’s damaging his back. Every time he does it, he’s doing some damage to his back, and if after that he’s able to carry 40-pound children, he’s able to carry backpacks, he’s able to do all these things, he’s able to go to swim parties and throw his kids up in the air, and those clearly postdated this accident in my case, it completely destroyed the value of that case for a plaintiff.
Protecting Yourself: Keep Legal Matters Offline
Now did we hit him? Yes, we did. Do I think he had some injuries as a result of that? Yes, I do. Do I think that they were something that was an injury on top of pre-existing injuries? Yes, I do. Insurers are allowed to consider that when they assess damages. They can say, okay, yeah, you got hurt this day, but man, you were a mess before that day anyway. So we’re going to adjust the damages. Bottom line, when you have a legal matter, the last place it should be, the last place it should be discussed at all is in social media of any kind, anywhere, doesn’t matter who.
Somebody says on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter or whatever, hey, how’s it going with that case? Just say, fine, and then give them a call on the phone, but don’t do it on social media. I guarantee it’s going to bite you.
Contact Us for a Free Consultation
I’m Michael Ashworth. Give me a shout at 918-924-5528, of course, area code 918, and come to TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro. If you have any legal questions, I’ve been doing this, I’d probably say, for almost 40 years. I’ve practiced a lot of different areas of law. So if I can’t help you, I can get you someone who can.
