Similarly, if your evidence was that you have developed an extreme fear of driving, an insurer may be looking for proof to confirm if regularly use the highway to go to your favourite shopping centre.
Insurance companies find social media information useful as it can be used to reduce or deny a claim. Insurers can manipulate the information to make it appear that you have fewer limitations than you claimed to have or to make it appear that you were dishonest or untruthful.
Modern technology allows insurers to save money by engaging in surveillance online. Hiring staff dedicated to following social media is often cheaper and reduces the need to retain the services of a private investigator. This is where an Ajax lawyer at KSB LLP can help you to avoid incriminating yourself or reducing your settlement.
HOW CAN AN INSURANCE COMPANY ACCESS MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT?
As social media becomes more widely used and privacy settings are developed, insurers continue to access information in several common ways, including:
- You have not activated or insufficient privacy settings that allow members of the public to access your information or photographs;
- Your social media network has changed the privacy settings and you did not update your personal settings;
- You allow unknown users to add you as a “friend” “follower” or “connection” and these unknown users are insurance company representatives;
- Friends or loved ones close to your post photos or information about you; and
- Your social media accounts are linked and allow your information to be posted to other non-secure platforms.
WHAT INFORMATION IS BEING SOUGHT?
Whether through online or in-person surveillance, insurers are looking for evidence to undermine your injury claims and to make you look untruthful. You will have provided your insurer with information about your pain and limitations, whether it is in the form of what you tell your doctors and treating medical practitioners, what you plead in the Statement of Claim or what you say in your sworn statement or examinations for discovery. In order to have successful insurance tort claim, you must prove that you are not at fault for the accident and the accident caused injuries that limit your ability to go about your daily activities, earn a living and cause real pain and suffering in your life.
Some examples of common forms of online surveillance through social media include:
- Evidence of you taking a holiday or lavish vacation;
- Photographs showing you engaging in physical feats that undermine your alleged disability such as running “Tough Mudder; and
- Entries showing you working when you have claimed you are unable to work.
HOW CAN YOU AVOID UNDERMINING YOUR CLAIM THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA?
You need to be truthful and accurate when communicating to your doctors, other medical practitioners, on forms and in statements to your insurer, making sure you do not exaggerate. For example, if you can drive from time to time, don’t say that you are “unable to drive” when the truth is that you struggle with driving, but pick your children up from school from time-to-time.
Another trick to consider is avoid using social media or consider using it more to follow other accounts and less for posting about your life. If you insist on posting updates about your life and sharing those with other users, consider heightened privacy settings, confirming privacy settings when they are changed by the network, posting under a pseudonym and refusing to accept “friend”, “follower” or “connection” requests from unknown users.
SOCIAL MEDIA EVIDENCE IN PRACTICE
In the long term disability case of Dodgson v. Great West Life Assurance Co. et al., 2014 ONSC 389, the insurer sought to prove that the plaintiff was not totally disabled based on Facebook photos. The plaintiff, Jamie Dodgson, worked as a Senior Personal Banking Officer at Scotia Bank. She was questioned about her Facebook account and the pictures she posted after claiming she suffered from depression, migraine headaches, and panic disorder with agoraphobia for a number of years. On Facebook, she described her summer of fun in 2009 and had pictures of her trips to: the zoo, Medieval Times in Toronto, and the CN Tower. She testified the family went on a two day vacation and stayed at the Harbour Castle Hotel.
In this case, Ms. Dodgson was still approved for long term disability benefits, but it is easy to see how a judgment could go the other way with social media evidence undermining her credibility. Removing posts thereafter might have raised additional suspicion and the potential allegation of the purposeful destruction of incriminating evidence.
CONTACT US AT KSB LAW FIRM, PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS IN AJAX, PICKERING & LINDSAY
If you or a loved one are injured in a motor vehicle accident, consider putting your use of social media on hold until after your claim settles. Be aware of all the factors that can impact compensation of your personal injury claim. Contact our lawyers in Pickering, Ajax or Lindsay to represent your personal injury law claim at 905-579-5302.