Social Media, Mobile Devices and Civil Lawsuits

Handheld mobile devices and social media are two inventions which have substantially improved our lives. With cell phones and personal digital assistants, we can communicate with people or conduct business almost anywhere on the planet. And social media allows us to interact with individuals or companies quickly and easily.

However, these technological advancements also have some drawbacks. One of these disadvantages with which I'm familiar is their ability to harm civil lawsuits.

Whenever clients ask me to handle their lawsuit, I always instruct them not to discuss our one-on-one conversations or their case with anyone else. Unfortunately, some people do not heed that advice. And social media and handheld devices are often a part of the problem.

Here are some scenarios which can potentially damage a case.

1. A client uses a cell phone to talk about their lawsuit with a "trusted family member" or "good friend." Inevitably, the other party betrays the client's confidence and the information makes its way back to the defendant. When this happens, the defense can use the client's words against him or her in court.

2. A client sends a text message via a handheld device that comments on some aspect of the case, the legal strategy, or the defendant. Either the other side finds out about the message on their own, or the client accidentally sends the message directly to the defendant. If they choose, the defense lawyers can now subpoena a client's cell phone records to obtain a copy of the exact text message - which in turn may be used to hurt the client's case.

3. A client posts a status update on Facebook which describes some facet of the lawsuit or even denigrates the defendant (in some cases, the defendant is actually a "Facebook friend" of the client). If the defense team finds out about that, there's a permanent record in cyberspace of the comment which can be traced and subpoenaed. Then the damaging material can be shown to a jury, and the client looks bad in front of the people who will be reaching a verdict in the case.

Inexplicably, some people view their texts and social media posts as "private" even though they are far from confidential. Once either type of message is sent, it has the potential to reach the wrong ears. That's why it is vital that clients never, ever, EVER mention anything about their case to any other person that isn't involved. Because the only things that can happen as a result of that are bad.