Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
We have been getting the following request in many of our cases including workers comp and our automobile accident cases:
“Produce a full and complete copy of your Facebook data. (To obtain this data, please perform the following download: (a) open Facebook online; (b) type in your log in information; (c) click ↓ at the top right of any Facebook page and select Settings; (d) click Download a copy of your Facebook app below your general account settings; and (e) click Start My Archive.).
The problems with this are many.
First, there are going to be pictures and posts that you wish weren’t there. We had a case where a very nice young lady had a torn rotator cuff as a result of a seatbelt restraint injury. She went to the bowling alley with her friends where they posted pictures of themselves on Facebook. None of the pictures showed her bowling and she testified that she didn’t bowl and the medical evidence was consistent both in time and manner with the injury being caused by the car accident. She did not recover the full amount of her damages because she had to explain to the jury that she wasn’t bowling.
Second, I’ll be the first to say that jurors take their job seriously. That being said, they just have a hard time applying the correct evidence standard in a civil case. In a civil case, all the Plaintiff has to prove is that the Defendant caused the accident and injuries more likely than not. The judge will say “to your reasonable satisfaction by a preponderance of the evidence”. That’s just fancy talk for more likely than not. The fact is that we all hear the phrase “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” which is the appropriate standard in a criminal case and certainly there are a lot of television shows about criminal cases. Nobody ever explains that a preponderance of the evidence is merely more likely than not on television.
So, the problem created by Facebook is that when a photograph inconsistent with the Plaintiff’s injury or story or even showing the Plaintiff having a good time, which even injured people do from time to time, they lose their case. I don’t know much about Facebook and can’t imagine that anyone would be very interested in how I spend my time, however I am aware that a lot of people spend a lot of time on Facebook and if they don’t shut it down when they get hurt, it can come back to haunt them. Of course, most people think that the insurance company is going to treat them fairly without a lawyer that can sue them successfully. Please don’t make your lawyer’s job harder than it is.
Buckle up and drive safely.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-349-2529
