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Implications of Social Media on Court Cases and Trials

Posted on Aug 6, 2010 in Internet/Technology, Personal Injury

A recent article about a talk given by Virginia lawyer, Courtney Van Winkle, raised some interesting issues about how social media have come and will continue to influence matters in court and during trials. [caption id="attachment_890" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo Courtesy of kozinets.net[/caption] In the realm of personal injury cases in particular, information relating to the event in question can often be traced through a defendant's Facebook profile. In some instances, references to drinking or attending a party on the date of a traffic accident have been used as evidence to suggest that a party was negligent. This poses an interesting question into how lawyers will come to advise their clients in the future when accepting cases. It may eventually become standard practice for attorneys to require their clients to delete their social media profiles before accepting their cases or at the very least to enable strict privacy settings. As a general rule, individuals involved in pending trials and court cases should never disclose information that pertains to those trials and the events in question in any sort of public forum. The personal tone and apparent privacy of social media platforms like Facebook can make it easy to forget just how publicly accessible the content within can be. For the full article on Courtney Van Winkle's talk please visit this site. If you are involved in a matter that could justify a personal injury case, contact Bloom Legal at 504-599-9997 to discuss your options and learn how we can help you today.

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