Why You Shouldn’t Post Anything on Social Media During a Wrongful Death Case

One of the things that people today are fond of doing is sharing their every life experience, be it an achievement, a general activity, or a tragedy, on social media. Even if their loved one has died a wrongful death, they express their grievances and sorrows by updating status and posting pictures for the world to see. But what they don’t realize is that if they have filed a claim against the responsible party, everything they do or say online can be used against them and significantly affect their case.

How Posting on Social Media can affect your Case

Some part of the compensation that you receive in a wrongful death claim is related to your suffering from the loss of your loved one. You may tell the court that you are unable to concentrate on your work and perform as you used to before because you feel disoriented or disabled in some way due to the incident. But insurance companies and attorneys have found a new way to limit or deny your claim, which is gathering information of your activities through your social media accounts.

You must be thinking how sharing posts and updating status about your activities can hurt your wrongful death claim? For starters, the information you post is ‘vulnerable’ in the sense that it is discoverable and can be easily misconstrued.

Let’s explain through an example. Suppose that your friend decides to take you out for lunch so that you can cheer up and get some fresh air, even though you don’t want to end grieving for the death of your loved one. During the lunch, she takes a few pictures and posts it on your Facebook account. Now if your claim adjuster comes across these pictures while going through your profile, they will save them and use it as an evidence to prove that you have move past the grieving phase and continued with your normal life.

Considering the example above, if you have filed a wrong death claim based on the fact that you have been suffering both emotionally and mentally, those pictures can prove you wrong. Due to this, your claim and the amount of compensation you are entitled to receive can be seriously compromised.

How to Prevent all this from Hurting your Case

Social media has become a useful source for insurance companies and attorneys for gathering evidence against the plaintiff to reduce or deny their claim. It is extremely important that you refrain from posting anything on your social media profiles from when the incident happened until your receive the settlement. Not only that, you should also ask your friends, family, and colleagues from posting anything on your account.

For better understanding how posting on social media can hurt your wrongful death claim, you should talk to an experienced wrongful death attorney. Contact Fisk & Monteleone LTD. today at 815-209-9030 to schedule a free case consultation with one of our experienced wrongful death lawyers.