A blog posted by John Patzakis on the eDiscovery Law and Tech blog really caught my attention. The article discussed a case where an attorney and his client were both sanctioned for removing posts from the clients Facebook account. “A Virginia state judge ordered lawyer Matthew Murray to pay $522,000 for instructing his client to remove photos from his Facebook profile, and for his client to pay an additional $180,000 for obeying the instructions. According to the final order in Lester v. Allied Concrete Company.

Murray instructed his client to remove several photos on his Facebook account due to fear that they might prejudice his wrongful death case brought after his spouses’ fatal automobile accident. The instructions were made through Murray’s assistant. The assistant’s email to the client, Isaiah Lester, stated that, “We do not want blow ups of other pics at trial, so please, please clean up your Facebook and MySpace!” According to local press reports, Murray quit his job as managing partner of the largest personal firm in Virginia and he no longer practice law.

Facebook has now been widely used by lawyers, investigators, insurance company and even the police. Some information may serve as grounds for discovering cases of deceit that might win a case. An intentional hiding, altering or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding is considered spoliation of evidence. Parties who engage in spoliation may face legal consequences. In the situation of Murray, the case he handled costs him a large amount of money and ended his career.

As a personal injury attorney, everyone should be extremely careful as to what they post on social media sites. Their posts may do more harm than good. Once a post is made it is there forever!  Even if it is later removed there are ways to bring those posts back.  Education is the key to the proper use of Facebook.  I have told many accident victims who have came to me for their Kentucky accident case to never post anything that you would not be comfortable with their mother reading in the paper.  I guess that dates me, but you get the point.

Last month I wrote a blog warning Kentucky auto accident victims that information placed on an accident victim’s social networking site can have an adverse affect on the settlement of their case.  You may have thought that this was Chicken Little yelling that the sky was falling, that I was a little paranoid. Unfortunately a friend of mine, Seattle attorney Chris Davis, has a client that has learned this the hard way. In a blog posted by Davis he tells the horror story of a client that down loaded pictures and videos to his facebook and myspace pages that literally cost him $20,000.00!

            Davis starts his blog with a statement that this is a true story. During the course of litigation Davis’s client posted pictures and videos of himself snowboarding. This was two years after the accident, but before the case was going to trial.  He was going to trial to get compensation for neck and back injuries suffered in a car accident.

Can you imagine the reaction of a jury? They are hearing evidence in a case where the accident victim will be asking for an award of money damages for their pain and suffering. During the trial the attorney hired by the insurance company shows a video of the accident victim speeding down a mountain on a snowboard and then going over jumps, flying several feet in the air and landing with a thump. The case is over at this point.

            I am sorry that Chris had this unfortunate experience. It is horrible to put your blood, sweat, tears and money into a case and work for a client you truly believe in and then have your hard work fall apart before your very eyes. I do want to thank Chris for posting this information so that we can all learn from it.

            You need to be extremely careful in what you post on your facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. You don’t know who will be able to gain access to the information. It may be a potential employer. It could be an insurance adjuster playing cybersleuth. Whether you are a Kentucky accident victim or a Washington accident victim you need to protect yourself by being careful. Learn from this $20,000.00 mistake.