Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
As a result of your accident, you claim you can't really walk very far. But two years
later, you absentmindedly post a picture of you mountain climbing on Facebook. How is
that going to affect your particular lawsuit? Would you like to learn the answer? Come join
me as I share with you this great information. Hi. I'm Gerry Oginski. I'm a New York medical
malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer practicing law here in the state of New York.
So here's the scenario. You suffer an accident and as a result of that you suffer significant
injury. And as part of the injuries, you claim you can't walk for long distances. And now,
two years later, you're trying to improve your health. You're trying to get better every
single day and you're trying to walk, where before you said you couldn't walk very well.
And now you're mountain climbing and you happen to post a picture of that mountain climbing
on Facebook. Do you think the defense is going to find it? The answer is they absolutely
will. Now, I guarantee you after you have testified -- if your case is coming up for
trial and now the defense finds this on your Facebook page. The defense will take that
particular picture and I guarantee you they're going to cross-examine you at the time of
trial. First they're going to ask you lots of questions about how far you can walk and
what's the extent of your injury? Why can't you walk? What have you done instead? And
then they're going to ask you about current problems. Have you been able to walk? What
things have you been able to do? What things have you not been able to do? And if you turn
around and say, "No, I can't walk and I have difficulty walking and I can't walk more than
a few feet or more than half a block" what they are going to do is take that photograph.
They are going to show it and they're going to use it to cross-examine you and try to
destroy your credibility. And if you are claiming that you cannot walk for long distances and
now all of a sudden you post pictures you're now jogging and running and playing all sorts
of sports, what will happen is the defense is going to take that and destroy your credibility.
And if now you don't have a good, valid explanation about why you're mountain climbing and now
your injuries are no longer as severe as you once claimed they were, you're going to have
a very significant credibility problem with the jury. So the reality is when you post
something to Facebook you better make sure it doesn't contradict anything that you have
said or done as part of your particular lawsuit. And that's one of the key reasons why with
new clients we tell them always you are not to post anything on any social media -- not
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn -- about your injuries, about your activities, about anything
involving your particular case. Why? Because by doing that you may inadvertently give the
defense ammunition to use at the time of trial. So why do I share this great information with
you? I share it with you just to give you a little bit of an insight and an understanding
into what goes on in the litigation process here in the state of New York. The defense
will find that information, I guarantee you. You know, as always if you have legal questions,
what I encourage you to do is pick up the phone and call me. I can answer your legal
questions. This is something that I do every single day and I welcome your call. You can
reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email at Gerry@Oginski-law.com. Well that's it for today's quick video. I'm
Gerry Oginski, have a wonderful day!