Electronic Discovery

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Electronic Discovery Plays an Important Role in the Accident Claim Process.


These days, everything is online. Email and social media are party of everyday life. But what happens online doesn’t always stay there. What you put up on the web could negatively affect your auto accident lawsuit. When an insurance company uses electronic discovery, even your private posts can come back to haunt you.

Discovery is the legal process that lets your auto accident attorney and your insurance company collect information about your lawsuit. It includes written questions called Interrogatories, recorded interviews called Deposition, and document collection using subpoenas.

But documents don’t have to be on paper to cause problems. Electronic discovery allows your insurance company to request information from social media companies and email servers. Even if your privacy settings are locked down, your posts still might not be safe. Your auto accident attorneys will work hard to limit the insurance attorneys’ access to electronic discovery. But they can’t legally protect it all.

It is up to you to monitor what you put online. Pictures and posts that show you enjoying life might be great for connecting with friends and providing social support, but they can cause big problems for your auto accident lawsuit.

Using subpoenas to internet service providers and online services, the defendants in your case can get access to your private emails and social media posts. They will scan through all your content and pull out anything that will help them prove you don’t need no-fault benefits.

Insurance lawyers are good at taking your best days and pulling them out of context. The one day when you were able to make it through 3 holes of golf could be used to show you can still swing a golf club and must not really be hurt as badly as you claim.

That’s why you need to be hyper-vigilant to protect your online image. Lock down your privacy settings to make it hard for insurance companies to find you. Tell your friends and family not to tag you in photos or posts, or change your settings require prior authorization for any tags. If you want to brag about your recovery, do it in person or on the phone.

Electronic discovery is a growing problem for auto accident attorneys. If you aren’t careful, your biggest joys after a car crash could come back as huge headaches for you and your lawyers. Don’t put your auto accident lawsuit at risk. Lock down your security settings and pay attention to what you post. It could save your no-fault claim.