Gerald Oginski's Blog

Twtitter & Facebook Comments-Can They Be Used Against You in a New York Negligence Trial?

You've brought a lawsuit in New York for injuries you received in a car accident. You've just given a deposition (a question and answer session) under oath where you explained in detail how your injuries prevent you from playing sports and doing many of your life's daily activities.

A few weeks later you are on Facebook telling your friends how you just went skiing and had no problem speeding down the double diamond slopes on an amazing mountain. While on Twitter, you posted a few quick comments about how you spend your day working part-time for a carpenter as a helper carrying heavy items in and out of the job site.

A bright defense attorney decides to check out your Facebook profile while he prepares his report to the insurance company. He also does a Google search of you to see where your name pops up. He finds your Facebook comment about your skiing adventure as well as your Twitter posts saying that you're working part-time.

What does this mean for your lawsuit in New York? 

The short version is that you're in trouble. The longer version is that you have created contradictions between the injuries that you claim to have suffered versus information that you have put out for public consumption on at least two social network sites.

Many people using Facebook and Twitter fail to recognize that by using and posting on these sites they generally have no expectation of privacy. It's not like having a private face-to-face conversation with one person. When you post to Facebook and Twitter, you are talking to the world. 

Will a trial judge allow a defense attorney to cross-examine you with the statements that you made on Facebook? Will your contradictions show that you were less than truthful under oath? In my opinion, a trial judge in New York will allow this information in.

What do you think will happen to your credibility once you are portrayed to have lied? A jury will no longer believe what you have to say. I'm not even going into the possibility of fraud or an intention to lie.

So what's the take home message? Remember, that when you post comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, the entire world can see them. Contradict yourself at your own peril.