Social Media: Six Simple Steps to Protect Your Case Right Now
Social media is everywhere. Whether you’re posting “privately” or not, everything you post, snap, IM, or message to someone can become public in a lawsuit.
But if you end up filing a lawsuit, there will be a magnifying glass on your social media, as defense lawyers try to find “dirt” to discredit or embarrass you.
In this post, we share six simple steps to protect your case now, before a lawsuit is filed.
1. Set every account to private, protected, or maximum privacy settings right now.
Facebook has privacy settings—put them to the maximum. Only post to “friends.” Stop letting people tag you without approval. Twitter and Instagram can be “protected” so only people you authorize can see them.
If you do not know how to make the changes, ask Google. Take the time and get through it. Your case is too important to quit.
2. Do not accept requests to be friends or allow followers from anyone you do not know and trust.
Defense lawyers aren’t supposed to send fake friend requests. But you need to assume they would. So don’t just accept new follow or friend requests during the lawsuit process. Wait until it is complete.
3. DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING.
While we will work hard to keep your social media confidential, it may be evidence in your case.
If you delete things you think are damaging to your case, that’s destroying evidence. We can work with bad facts. We cannot work with destroying evidence.
4. Send us any problematic posts.
We need to know everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Otherwise, you may be confronted with something at deposition without our being able to discuss it with you first. That’s never good.
So if you know or see something posted that makes you worried, let us know now so we can address it.
5. Ask yourself, “how would this sound if I read it to a jury in my case at trial?” before hitting “post.”
It’s always easier to change it now than explain it later.
We can be very casual on social media, whether than means exaggerating, playing down our limitations, cursing, or being flip about serious things.
Your case is serious, and we hope the jury takes it seriously. Don’t undermine that through your posts.
6. Continue to try and enjoy life.
Everything isn’t doom and gloom. If you enjoy social media and find it is important to your happiness, we aren’t going to tell you to quit. Just be a little thoughtful.
Because there’s a whole lot of time, energy, and money big nursing homes and hospitals—and their insurance companies—are ready to throw around so they can escape responsibility for their carelessness. Don’t help them do it.
Following these basic rules will help ensure the defendants can’t take unfair advantage of your private communications.
You have my word on it!
William Eadie
Nursing Home Injury Lawyer