Protect your case from online snooping by insurance adjusters

In my last post, we talked about how important it is to prevent insurance adjusters from tricking you into giving information that can harm your case, even though the questions may seem harmless. That’s one reason why it’s important to have a lawyer such as me represent you in an injury case.

Once you have a lawyer on your side, you can go about your business and not worry about the insurance company trying to damage to your case, right? Wrong! Even though you have a lawyer, the insurance adjuster will still try to get information from you or your friends that can help the insurance company and hurt you.

How does the adjuster do this? He or she uses a computer to search the Internet to for information about you. The most common searches are on social networking sites such as Facebook , MySpace, Twitter and the other sites where people share information about their lives.

You probably have registered and posted personal information on one or more websites as a way to keep in touch with your friends. Some sites allow anyone to view your information; others afford some privacy. Either way, any information you post on these types of social networking sites could end up in the hands of an insurance company and used against you.

Consider a simple photograph. If you have been injured and you post a picture of yourself at a party, laughing or dancing, and the insurance adjuster obtains the image, it will be used to prove that your life hasn’t changed since your injury. A video of you having a good time is even more powerful in the hands of an insurance company fighting your claim.

If you want to share personal information with your friends, don’t do it online. And don’t discuss your case with your friends. The insurance adjuster can’t talk to you without me present, but this rule doesn’t apply to your friends. An experienced adjuster knows how to get your friends to reveal what you told them in confidence. If your friends want to know about your case, politely tell them your lawyer told you not to talk about it.

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