ICBC and social media surveillance

In today’s world of Twitter, Facebook and other social media, more and more cases are being influenced at trial by client postings that give ICBC an unfair advantage. Being aware of this risk, I caution my clients to be extra careful when they post to any social media.

I thought I would share with you some great tips I came across the other day from James Publishing. The real value in these tips is that they give you very specific instructions. This will help you avoid giving ICBC gifts they don’t deserve.

Here are the tips:

1. Keep an eye out for video operators, sitting in a vehicle or elsewhere, taking videos or photographs with a hand-held video camera or cell phone.
2. Avoid engaging in any activities that the defense could distort or twist in order to claim that you are misrepresenting your medical situation.
3. If you, or your family, use any social media sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Caring Bridge, etc., you should immediately reset your profiles to the highest possible privacy settings. We can help in this regard if necessary.
4. Do not accept any friend requests from anyone you do not personally know.
5. Do not post anything about your case, your injuries, your personal thoughts, photographs or conversations with your attorneys on any social media site, or blog. The best practice, from this point forward, is not to post any information on social media websites.
6. Ethical rules concerning your lawsuit prohibit you and your attorney from removing, deleting, concealing or withholding any information you may have already posted.
7. If your close friends and family members post pictures or information about you, please make them aware of these guidelines and ask them to follow them.