Does the defense attorney and claims admin try to befriend you on Facebook. I keep getting these friend request from these recently created fb people who have no history. I have a workman compensation case. How low will they go to win?
The defense is trying to find evidence (surveillance) to prove their case just like you are compiling our evidence (medical) to prove our case. Be honest and you shouldn't have any problems. If you say you can't do something to a doctor, you shouldn't be able to do it and thereafter publish it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Good luck with the remainder of your case.
Keith Nicholas PusavatWorkers' Compensation LawyerBuena Park, CA ·
It's much more likely to be an investigator than an attorney or adjuster. If you are represented, the defendants would certainly be prohibited from having their agents contact you directly. There are also some old cases which restrict deceptive practices by investigators (the famous one involved an investigator who dated an applicant and filmed her at an amusement park using a hidden camera), but if an investigator's intern sends you a friend request using his real name, and you are not represented by counsel, there's probably nothing explicitly illegal about it. Beware who you call your friends.
Case law has not been fully (or really, even partially) developed in the area of social media. Facebook's policy is to resist producing documents when issued subpoenas, invoking an obscure law regarding electronic storage that was designed to protect data protection services, not social media websites. However, there has been at least one case where Facebook was ordered to produce all posts from a person's page - even material that had been deleted.
Under traditional rules of discovery, anything you have ever posted on a social media website has by definition already been disclosed to a third party, and therefore is probably subject to discovery if there is a showing that it is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.
Checking Facebook is a very common investigative tactic in WC cases. Sometimes they will even send an investigator out to talk to your neighbors trying to find out if you are working somewhere under the table while out on Temporary Disability. You likely will have an investigator follow you from doctor’s appointments or some other location they know you will be at and even may have an investigator sit outside your house. This is all common. I’ve never heard of an investigator sending a fake friend request but it would not surprise me.
Do not work under the table while you are collecting Temporary Disability. Do not tell the doctor that you cannot do things you really can do. Always tell the truth at your deposition. They may try to catch you in a lie but if you tell the truth, you have nothing to worry about.
Lastly, if they have hired an investigator, they are probably going to hire a attorney. If you do not already have an attorney, it is probably past time to get one.
Of course you should not have a problem by the insurance company's investigation as long as you are truthful. That being said I can assure you that insurance companies will do everything within their power to gather information to use against you. They can even take otherwise innocent information and attempt to twist it into something which may appear to injure your case. Ultimately the information is turned over to the QME or AME Dr. for review and is Considered in your determination of permanent disability and right to future benefits. When you bring a Worker's Compensation case to some extent you must realize that your privacy rights may be infringed upon by insurance company investigators.
Jennifer L. EllisEthics / Professional Responsibility LawyerPhiladelphia, PA ·
It would be utterly unethical for a lawyer on the other side to try to friend you. It would also be unethical for the lawyer to ask someone to friend you. That does not mean, however, that it isn't happening. Be very careful about who you friend. Watch your privacy settings.
The insurance company will do anything in its power to undermine your claim; but, you can glean this point from the other answers. I want to raise one additional point regarding eDiscovery. Attorneys have been concerned about the impact that Facebook posts and pictures might have on their clients' claims for years. However, the concept of spoliation of evidence (i.e., destruction / deletion of relevant evidence to a legal proceeding) has been held to apply to Facebook, which means that a judge may impose monetary sanctions when an attorney instructs and/or an applicant deletes certain posts / pictures on Facebook. In addition, spoliation of evidence raises a presumption that the destroyed evidence was adverse to the party that destroyed it. Speak with an experienced workers' compensation attorney about how you can best protect your claim and maintain your privacy. Good luck!
I've had defense attorneys show me photos of my clients obtained from Facebook accounts. Some investigation companies will also check the accounts of friends and relatives for damaging photographs. So long as you're not engaging in activities that one with your claimed injury would be unable to do, you probably have nothing to worry about. Video surveillance is also quite common and legal when done in places where one would not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
I've seen workers comp cases denied based on information obtained from facebook pages and in particular based on posts to injured worker's wall page by friends. These issues complicate the claim and hurt your case. I suggest cancelling facebook account until a few moths after claim is resolved unless the information it contains and is posted has no way of being made to look you bad when taken out of context. In your case considering your suspicions canceling facebook page would be a reasonable precaution.
