When a new car accident client comes into this office of a Georgia injury lawyer, they have a list of questions for us. Many of them want to know how much their case is worth. Others want to know how fast they can get their money. But what very few clients ask us is whether they should post about their accident on social media.
Our Albany car accident lawyers tell every client to actively avoid social media at all costs. There is nothing so pressing that you can’t learn about in some other way.
If you really want to know what your favorite TikTok star had for dinner, you can always search online to find out. If you want to know how many steps your best friend had yesterday, you can call and ask them. Whatever it is that you need to do to avoid posting about your car accident on social media-do it.
The problem for our Georgia injury lawyers is that we can’t force you to suspend your social media accounts. Nor can we force you to refrain from posting about your crash online. All we can do is warn you that posting about your crash on social media can only hurt your case and cost you money.
There’s Only One Person You Should Talk to About Your Car Accident
The general rule we like to tell our clients is that there’s only one person they should ever discuss their car accident with. And that person is your Albany accident lawyer. Quite frankly, you shouldn’t even talk about your case with your friends and family. If the defendant’s attorney wants to, they can depose your family members and your friends and ask them what they heard about the accident.
And, while you can certainly do the same thing, there’s no reason to make your Georgia injury lawyer’s job any harder than it already is. Just keep your conversations and comments between you and your attorney for now in order for your case to play out the way it’s supposed to. Never give the defendant’s attorney ammunition to use against you. And that’s all social media posts are-ammunition.
Your Albany Accident Lawyer Can’t Stop You from Posting on Social Media
As stated above, your Albany accident lawyer can’t physically prevent you from posting about your car accident on social media. We could certainly add a clause to our retainer agreement advising clients that we can let them go if we find out that they did post about their case online.
However, it’s not worth the time or effort to research to see if our clients took our advice or not. If you end up losing your case and walking away with nothing because the defendant was able to use your social media content against you, that is your loss. Of course, it’s also a loss for our associates and our firm.
The difference is that our firm has dozens if not hundreds of other cases to make up for that loss. You don’t. So, it really is in your best interest to heed your Georgia injury lawyer’s advice and stay far away from social media until your case is settled.
The Defendant’s Lawyer Will Be Keeping an Eye on Your Online Posts
The other driver’s attorney has interns and other lower-level staff who can spend all day trolling social media to find out if you posted about your crash. They will take screen-prints of any comments, videos, or posts on either your timeline or your friends’ timelines. They will make sure that they get a copy of any of these posts before you come to your senses and delete them.
Besides, even if you delete any of these posts, anybody who’s already shared them or added them to their own timeline will still have access to it. Any posts that the defendants lawyer thinks they can use against you in court, they will.
Unfortunately, your Albany accident lawyer will be the last person to know that these posts exist. That means they will be blindsided at some point either at trial or during settlement negotiations. This won’t be good for anybody involved in your case.
It may be hard to imagine that a simple Facebook post could have any impact on your car accident lawsuit. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. For example, let’s say that you posted a comment a week before the crash saying how much you hated your car and couldn’t wait to get a new one. Your car was deemed totaled in your car accident.
Logically, your Georgia injury lawyer demanded compensation for the fair value of your vehicle at the time of the accident. All the defendant’s lawyer has to do is show a copy of this post and it will appear to a judge or jury that you may have purposely caused the crash just to get a new car. Even if this isn’t true, they will cause enough speculation and doubt to damage your case.
Trust Your Albany Accident Lawyer When They Say to Avoid the Internet
We understand it’s hard to not post about your personal life on social media. Years ago, people posted their feelings and thoughts in diaries or journals. Some would confide in their best friends about things that were troubling them. Today, however, as soon as somebody feels the urge to get something off their chest, they head straight for social media.
Our Albany accident lawyers repeatedly have to remind our clients to avoid social media at all costs. Even if you don’t personally say anything about your case, that doesn’t mean that a friend or family member won’t. Since anything you say on social media can be used against you in your lawsuit, the risk is just too high.
If that means you must suspend your social media accounts until your case is resolved, so be it. You have to decide what’s more important to you-winning your case and walking away with a settlement or keeping your followers on Instagram and Twitter.
We recommend that you contact our office and speak with a Georgia injury lawyer as soon as possible after your crash. Ideally, you’ll schedule your free, initial consultation within a day or two of your accident. Our hope is that we get to speak with you as soon as possible to help prevent you from making mistakes that will cost you your case. Since the consultation is free, you have nothing to lose by coming into the office.
