Can your Facebook posts be used against you in a civil lawsuit? With the increasing growth of social media, many judges have had to confront this question, especially in cases related to medical malpractice. While most lawyers will answer that question with “It depends,” it’s important to realize that social media data is no different than any other type of electronic data. What you share with friends on Facebook can be used in court.
Typically, the courts have held that there can be no reasonable expectation of privacy since Facebook’s homepage specifically states that “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.” Even if you’ve blocked photos and posts, that information may still be discoverable if it’s relevant to a lawsuit you’re a part of. The key issue is whether or not the party seeking to access your profile has a legitimate reason for doing so. The courts have applied this standard in order to determine whether a litigant’s Facebook posts will be discoverable. It must be shown that the requested information may reasonably lead to the discovery of evidence that is admissible.
If you’ve made Facebook posts about all the fun you had on your latest skiing expedition after alleging serious and permanent injuries from an auto accident, that information is relevant to the lawsuit from the car accident and will be discoverable. The plaintiff in Largent vs. Reed found that out the hard way. She was ordered by the court to turn over her Facebook log-in information to the defense counsel. At the same time, it’s important to note that Facebook posts aren’t discoverable if your opponent just want to go on a fishing expedition to find out what you’ve been doing over the last several years.
In a Louisiana personal injury case- Farley v. Callais & Sons, LLC - a federal judge ordered of all posts his lawyer determined to be related to the accident in question or plaintiff’s alleged injuries. The Judge would not, however, require Plaintiff to share his Facebook login information or sign an authorization permitting defendants to get the information directly from Facebook.
In the case of Zimmerman vs. Weis Markets, the plaintiff claimed permanent injuries while using a fork lift. At the same time, he posted that he enjoyed bike stunts on the public portion of his Facebook page. The court determined that this information was relevant to the legitimacy of his claims. Privacy interests didn’t trump the discovery requests in this case.
At the same time, the court is fair in its rulings of what’s discoverable and what’s not. In the case of Tompkins vs. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the plaintiff claimed back injuries due to a slip and fall at the airport. The defendant came upon some plaintiff photos showing him pushing a shopping cart and holding a dog. The court rule that these photos weren’t inconsistent with the plaintiff’s injuries. Furthermore, the court stated that pictures showing the plaintiff jogging or playing golf would’ve shown an inconsistency in the plaintiff’s claim and would’ve have been discoverable.
Information on social media platforms like Facebook is subject to the same duty to preserve as other types of electronically stored data. This duty is triggered when parties can foresee that its information may be relevant to the issues surrounding the litigation. All evidence in a party’s control, custody and possession is subject to the duty to preserve. That means you can’t delete or clean-up any existing data on Facebook, including posts and photos. Failure to preserve relevant evidence can result in sanctions for both counsel and client. In Lester vs. Allied Concrete, the court sanctioned both counsel and the plaintiff for engaging in spoiling the evidence. The lawyer had instructed his paralegal to tell the plaintiff to clean up his Facebook page. Together, the paralegal and the client deleted 16 pages from his account and deactivated his page. The photos were later recovered by a forensic expert, and sanctions were given due to the misconduct.
If you're involved in a case that involves social media evidence, you should contact an experienced attorney like J. Antonio Tramontana. Get a free consultation today.
Ovarian cancer is rare, accounting for just 1.3% of new cancer cases in the U.S. However, Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company worth an estimated $70 billion, is paying millions of dollars in damages to plaintiffs across the country that allege the company’s talcum powder and bathing products caused their ovarian cancer. In February 2016, […]
The death of an infant is devastating; it’s a life that was cut far too short. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that .6% of infants don’t make it to their first birthday (6 out of every 1,000). The CDC monitors infant mortality rates to help depict the health and well-being of […]
If your doctor is prescribing anticoagulant medicines for you, like Xarelto or Eliquis, beware. A recent study suggests that physicians aren’t following proper safety guidelines when prescribing these drugs. The 2 medications, along with similar anticoagulant drugs, come with safety warnings that doctors should know to follow. Surprisingly and alarmingly, they’re not heeding these warnings; […]
It’s a 15-hour drive from Louisiana to North Carolina, a long way home for Teresa Harmony who suffered a tibia fracture in Louisiana during the spring of 2013. According to Harmony, after a surgery that included an intramedullary rod and screws adjoined to her tibia, she traveled back home to North Carolina. Upon her return, […]
Just a few months ago, the Louisiana’s House Civil Law and Procedure Committee sought to take an “all-encompassing look” at laws that govern malpractice in the state. This intended action effectively put a hold on a pair of measures that would increase Louisiana’s $500,000 economic damage medical malpractice cap. For the rest of the state’s […]
Louisiana has the 3rd highest number of medical malpractice lawsuits per capita in the United States: 3.4 reports per 1,000 people, according to new data analyzed by the U.S. Government's National Practitioner Data Bank. How Much Money Do You Get for Medical Malpractice? With a population of 4.6 million, there were 15,716 medical malpractice actions taken in […]
According to a recent analysis conducted by two experts from John Hopkins University, medical mistakes are the third leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease and cancer. This statistic comes as a shock to many, leading medical professionals to search for new ways to prevent these errors from occurring. […]
We trust nursing home facilities to provide ongoing care for our aging loved ones, but how much care is actually being taken to ensure their safety and well-being? It turns out the answer is not much in the state of Louisiana. With 90% of nursing homes insufficiently staffed and 85% of residents suffering from malnutrition, […]
