“Run, Forrest, Run”, That’s What a 41-Year Veteran Attorney Says About Social Media During a Lawsuit
A woman had a small personal injury case. A scar on her face from an accident. Her attorneys at Phillips Law Offices told her clearly: do not post on social media.
She posted anyway.
Attorney Steven J. Phillips sent a settlement demand to the insurance company. The next morning, their response arrived. Exhibit A was a photo from the client’s own Facebook page, showing her face looking perfectly fine.
The insurance company offered less money. One photo. One post. That’s all it took.
Steve Phillips, managing partner of Phillips Law Offices in Chicago and a personal injury attorney for more than four decades, puts it this way:
“Do you ever see the movie Forrest Gump? Run, Forrest, run. Run away from social media as fast as you can.”
It sounds dramatic. It’s not. After what we’ve seen in case after case, it might be the single most important piece of advice we give our clients, right alongside “don’t talk to the other driver’s insurance company.”
As we discussed on our podcast, Navigating Negligence, social media has become one of the most powerful weapons defense attorneys and insurance companies use to destroy legitimate injury claims. Here’s how it works, why “being private” won’t save you, and what you should do right now if you have a pending case.
Why Insurance Companies Love Your Social Media
Defense attorneys and insurance adjusters are not scrolling through your social media out of curiosity. They are building a case against you.
In virtually every personal injury lawsuit today, the defendant’s legal team asks a standard set of questions during written discovery:
- What are your social media handles on every platform?
- Have you posted any photos, videos, or status updates since the date of the accident?
- Have you deleted any posts, photos, or content since filing your claim?
They press particularly hard in auto accident cases and premises liability cases. And they are not looking for the post where you describe how much pain you’re in. They are looking for the one photo, the one check-in, the one thirty-second video clip that they can take out of context to argue you’re not really hurt.
Steve Phillips frames it with a comparison every American understands:
“It can and will be used against you. That’s social media. It’s not going to benefit you.”
Think of it as your Miranda rights for the digital age. Anything you post can and will be used against you in your personal injury case. Unlike Miranda, nobody is required to warn you first.
“But I’m Private!”, Why That Doesn’t Protect You
This is the most common objection we hear from clients, and it is the most dangerous misconception in modern personal injury law.
“My account is set to private. Only my friends can see my posts. The insurance company can’t access anything.”
Wrong.
When you file a personal injury lawsuit, the defense has the right to request relevant evidence during discovery. If they believe your social media contains information relevant to your claims, and they always believe it does, they can ask the court to compel you to produce it.
A court can order you to:
- Compile every post, photo, and video from your accounts
- Provide screenshots of all content for a specified time period
- Turn over data directly to the opposing party’s legal team
Your privacy settings are irrelevant once a judge signs that order. “Private” is a setting on a social media platform. It is not a legal privilege. It does not protect your content from discovery in a lawsuit.
And here’s what makes it worse: if you delete posts after litigation has begun or after you reasonably anticipate litigation, that can be treated as spoliation of evidence. Destroying evidence can result in sanctions, adverse inference instructions to the jury, or worse. You can’t post it and then un-post it. The only safe option is not to post at all.
The 2,000 Facebook Posts That Almost Sank a Case
Attorney Michael Phillips handled a case that perfectly illustrates why social media is so dangerous, and why even a strong case with legitimate injuries can be undermined by a client who won’t stop posting.
The client had a catastrophic spine injury. He could barely walk. He was in terrible, constant pain. He had two young children. By every medical measure, this was a serious, well-documented injury case.
The attorneys told him to stop posting on social media. He didn’t listen.
By the time the case reached discovery, the client had made over 2,000 Facebook posts during the pendency of the lawsuit.
The court ordered production of every single post. Michael Phillips spent an entire summer, an entire summer, screenshotting, cataloging, and reviewing each post to comply with the court order.
Out of those 2,000-plus posts, the defense cherry-picked three or four photos. One showed the client jumping with his kids. Another showed him at a social gathering, smiling. These were isolated moments, snapshots that captured a fraction of a second and told nothing about how he felt an hour later, or the next morning, or during the weeks of pain that followed.
But in front of a jury, those photos are powerful. The defense holds up an image of someone jumping in the air and says: “This is the man who claims he can barely walk.”
It doesn’t matter that the photo doesn’t show him lying in bed the next day unable to move. It doesn’t matter that his medical records confirm a catastrophic spine injury. The image sticks. And once a jury has doubt about a plaintiff’s credibility, the entire case is at risk.
As we’ve covered in our discussion on mistakes people make after motor vehicle accidents, failing to control your social media presence is one of the most common, and most preventable, errors we see.
Even Small Cases Aren’t Safe
You might think that social media monitoring is reserved for multi-million-dollar catastrophic injury cases. It’s not.
The facial scar case mentioned at the top of this post was not a large case by any measure. It was a relatively modest claim for a facial injury. But the insurance company still checked the client’s social media, because they always do. It costs them nothing to look, and the payoff can be enormous.
When Steven J. Phillips sent the settlement demand, the insurer’s response included the client’s own photo as Exhibit A. One Facebook post. That’s all the insurance company needed to justify a lower offer.
The size of your case does not determine whether the other side will look at your social media. They look at everyone’s. It’s standard practice. Whether your claim is worth $15,000 or $1.5 million, your posts are being reviewed.
What About Business Use?
Some clients run businesses that rely on social media for marketing, customer communication, or sales. Telling them to go completely dark for the duration of a lawsuit, which can take years, may not be practical.
There is a narrow exception for purely business-related posts. If you are sharing industry articles, posting about a product launch, or promoting your company’s services, and the content contains nothing about you personally, no photos of you, no references to your physical activities, no personal updates of any kind, then business posting may be acceptable.
But the word “may” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The line between business and personal content is blurry, and what seems purely professional to you might look very different to a defense attorney scrutinizing every word and image.
The rule: before you post anything, even something you believe is strictly business, run it by your lawyer first. Every time. No exceptions.
Surveillance: They’re Watching More Than Your Feed
Social media isn’t the only way defendants gather evidence about your physical abilities. In many cases, they hire professional surveillance teams to watch you in person.
In the 2,000 Facebook posts case, the defense didn’t just scour the client’s social media. They also hired private investigators to conduct physical surveillance. They watched the client go to vote. They followed him to his home. They took videos of him performing ordinary daily activities, walking to his car, carrying a bag, stepping over a curb.
Each of these mundane moments was captured on video and stored for potential use at trial. The goal is always the same: find footage that contradicts the plaintiff’s description of their limitations, take it out of context, and present it to a jury.
You cannot control whether the defense conducts surveillance. But you can control what they find online. Combining surveillance footage with your own social media posts gives the defense a two-pronged attack on your credibility. Don’t hand them half of their ammunition.
What You Should Do Right Now
If you have a personal injury case, or believe you may have one, take these steps immediately:
- Stop posting on all social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), Snapchat, LinkedIn personal posts, all of them. Today. Right now.
- Do NOT delete old posts. Deleting content after an accident or after filing a lawsuit can be considered destruction of evidence. Leave everything that’s already there alone.
- Adjust your privacy settings. Yes, we said privacy settings won’t stop a court order, and that’s true. But tighter privacy settings do prevent the defense from casually browsing your profile without a formal discovery request. It’s an extra layer, not a wall.
- Tell your family and friends. Ask people close to you not to tag you in photos, check you in at locations, or post about your activities. Their accounts can be used to find information about you, too.
- Talk to your attorney about your social media accounts. Disclose what you have, what you’ve posted, and what platforms you use. Your lawyer needs to know what’s out there before the defense finds it.
- If you must post for business, get attorney approval on every post. No exceptions to this rule.
The safest path is the simplest one: stay off social media entirely until your case is resolved. The temporary inconvenience of not posting is nothing compared to the permanent consequences of a reduced verdict or a destroyed case.
For more on protecting yourself after an accident, read our guide to insurance mistakes after a car accident in Illinois.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the defense really see my social media if my accounts are set to private?
Yes. During the discovery phase of a lawsuit, the defense can request that the court order you to produce your social media content. A judge can compel you to compile all posts, photos, and videos and turn them over to the opposing party. Your privacy settings are a feature of the social media platform, they do not create any legal protection against court-ordered discovery.
Should I delete my social media posts after a car accident?
Absolutely not. Deleting posts, photos, or any content after an accident, especially after you’ve filed a lawsuit or anticipate filing one, can be treated as spoliation of evidence. This can lead to serious consequences including court sanctions, adverse jury instructions, or other penalties that damage your case far more than the posts themselves would have.
What if I only post positive things about my recovery?
Even posts about your recovery can be used against you. Saying “feeling great today” or sharing a photo of yourself at a family event creates a narrative the defense will use. They will argue that if you feel “great,” you aren’t suffering the pain and limitations you claim. There is no category of personal social media post that is truly safe during an active case. The only safe post is no post at all.
How long should I stay off social media during my injury case?
Until your case is fully resolved, meaning settled or tried to a verdict, with all appeals exhausted. Personal injury cases in Illinois can take anywhere from several months to several years. We understand this is a significant commitment, but the risk of undermining your case with a single post is real and well-documented. Talk to your attorney about a realistic timeline for your specific situation.
Can the insurance company hire someone to watch me in person?
Yes. Defendants and their insurance companies routinely hire private investigators to conduct surveillance on plaintiffs. This is legal. Investigators may follow you in public, record video of your daily activities, and observe how you move and what you do. This footage can be presented at trial to contradict your testimony about your physical limitations. While you cannot prevent surveillance in public places, you can ensure that you are not also handing the defense contradictory evidence through your own social media posts.
Protect Your Case, Talk to Phillips Law Offices Today
Social media feels personal and private. It’s not. In the context of a personal injury lawsuit, every post, photo, and check-in is potential evidence, and the defense knows exactly how to use it against you.
At Phillips Law Offices, we have been protecting accident victims in Chicago since 1945. Our attorneys, Steve Phillips, Steven J. Phillips, Michael Phillips, and Alec Mesrobian, have handled cases where social media nearly cost clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. We know the traps, and we know how to help you avoid them.
Call Phillips Law Offices today for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, audit your social media exposure, and give you a clear plan to protect your claim from the tactics insurance companies use every single day.
For more on protecting your rights after an accident, listen to our Navigating Negligence podcast, where our attorneys discuss the real-world strategies that make the difference between winning and losing a personal injury case in Illinois.
The post How Social Media Can Destroy Your Personal Injury Case (Even if Your Account Is Private) appeared first on Phillips Law Offices.