NPR Discusses Social Media and Class Action Lawsuits

Once again, the National Public Radio is weighing in on a relevant topic to today's blog topic.  Social media and its use for legal claims has been an area of hot debate in recent years.  Can private social media posts be used as courtroom evidence?  How do you control jurors and judges who may tweet or Facebook post about a current case? Interestingly, some lawyers are also attempting to use social media to reach large masses of people for class-action lawsuits.  Read about this new phenomenon by clicking the link to the original NPR article, which can be found here.

As stated on yesterday's blog, social media can be potentially complicated for clients pursuing a personal injury claim.  Just like applying for a job or being an employee within a company, your social media activity is not as private or as protected as you may think.  Social media can become dangerous for a legal claim when certain pictures or comments are taken out of context and may be used against you.  For this reason, if you are hesitant about posting a picture or writing a comment that you feel may be used against your case, use discretion and do not post that item.  It may be even be better to not discuss your injury, and especially your legal claim, over Facebook at all.  The only way to keep your personal life as private as you want it to be is to not post anything you wouldn't want everyone to know about.

If you would like more information about this page or central Pennsylvania attorney Doug Stoehr's areas of practice, contact our Altoona, Pennsylvania, law firm by calling 814-946-4100.

Social Media in the Office

Ever wonder how different employers regulate the use of social media? The Huffington Post just released an interesting article that covered the trends that arose in social media use in the office.  Some of the more interesting points include the following:

• Almost 100% of companies now use social media in some way for their businesses
• There has been a 20% increase in the number of organizations that have formal social media policies in the past year
• Fewer than 20% of organizations have provisions that protect against social media misuse by ex-employees

To read more, please visit  the original article from the Huffington Post by clicking here. 

Social media use has many implications for clients pursuing a personal injury claim.  Similar to applying for a job or being an employee within a company, your social media activity is not as private or as protected as you may think.  For example, an innocent picture of you enjoying a short walk after your accident may be misconstrued as a full and complete recovery.  Additionally, posts/comments from friends suggesting that you're healthier than you really are may come across as you being insincere about your injury as well.  Social media may become dangerous for a case when certain pictures or comments are taken out of context and may be used against you.  For this reason, if you are hesitant about posting a picture or writing a comment that you feel may be used against your case, use discretion and do not post that item.  It may be even be better to not discuss your injury, and especially your legal claim, over Facebook at all.  The only way to keep your personal life as private as you want it to be is to not post anything you wouldn't want everyone to know about.

If you would like more information about this page or central Pennsylvania attorney Doug Stoehr's areas of practice, contact our Altoona, Pennsylvania, law firm by calling 814-946-4100.

California Joins Other States In Signing Social Media Lawe

ENewsChannels recently covered an article about California's new social media policies for employers and universities.  The article, originally written by the California Newswire on 9/27/2012, can be viewed by reading below or clicking this link.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today took to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace to announce that he has signed two bills that increase privacy protections for social media users in California.
Assembly Bill 1844 (Campos) and Senate Bill 1349 (Yee) prohibit universities and employers from requiring that applicants give up their email or social media account passwords.
“The Golden State is pioneering the social media revolution and these laws will protect all Californians from unwarranted invasions of their personal social media accounts,” said Governor Brown.
Assembly Bill 1844 by Nora Campos (D-San Jose) prohibits employers from demanding user names, passwords or any other information related to social media accounts from employees and job applicants. Employers are banned from discharging or disciplining employees who refuse to divulge such information under the terms of the bill. However, this restriction does not apply to passwords or other information used to access employer-issued electronic devices. The bill further stipulates that nothing in its language is intended to infringe on employers’ existing rights and obligations to investigate workplace misconduct.
Senate Bill 1349 by Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) establishes a similar privacy policy for postsecondary education students with respect to their use of social media. While the bill prohibits public and private institutions from requiring students, prospective students and student groups to disclose user names, passwords or other information about their use of social media, it stipulates that this prohibition does not affect the institution’s right to investigate or punish student misconduct.
Proponents of Assembly Bill 1844 say this is a common-sense measure that will bring clarity to a murky area of employment law and stop business practices that impede employment. Senate Bill 1349, which passed without opposition in the Legislature, is designed to stop a growing trend of colleges and universities snooping into student social media accounts, particularly those of student athletes.
Social media rules and regulations are also very important when it comes to litigating cases.  For more information on central Pennsylvania Attorney
Doug Stoehr's law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100.

Social Media Training For Law Enforcement Officers

The Kota Area News recently covered an article discussing social media training for law enforcement officers. A recent incident with a hostage situation in Pittsburgh is prompting area agencies to think about how they handle social media-related crime situations.  To read the original article, written on 9/26/2012 by Joe Mandak, please continue below orclick this link. 

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh police plan to train their officers to be fluent in social media, joining other departments nationwide, days after a man armed with a hammer and kitchen knife used a hostage's computer to post Facebook messages lamenting his troubles.
The case of Klein Michael Thaxton, who is accused of picking a hostage at random in a downtown office tower and then kept authorities at bay for hours before surrendering and releasing the hostage, was a first for the Pittsburgh department.
There is some reflection about whether officials did the right thing by not immediately shutting down the suspect's Facebook page. Police say they want to make sure officers are prepared for such judgment calls down the road.
"I think it's something we will train for in the future," said Lt. Jason Lando, who acted as a coach to the primary negotiator, Officer Matt Lackner.
Members of law enforcement are finding variations of the Pittsburgh situation nationwide. The International Association of Chiefs of Police now has a Center for Social Media to help officers prevent and solve crimes using social media. The center's website contains training tools for law enforcement, and a list of crimes where social media played a role. Special software applications are even being created to help monitor and solve crimes.
Gary Noesner, a former chief of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit, said his instinct would have been to shut the Facebook page down immediately, though he agreed it might also have provided some useful information to law enforcement.
"The whole social media situation is really fascinating, the impact it is having on operations," Noesner added.
Pittsburgh police wouldn't detail their specific conversations with Thaxton, 22, whose defense attorney didn't return calls for comment.
But, in general, Lackner said negotiating with a hostage taker is like "riding a seesaw," as authorities try to "reduce the emotionality and raise the rationality" of their subject.
"When one goes down, the other goes up," Lackner said.
But until police got federal authorities to intervene and shut down Thaxton's Facebook page about four hours into the ordeal, the negotiators couldn't control how many other people might be riding that see-saw. Thaxton's posts drew about 700 responses, most from family members and friends expressing concern and the hope that he'd do the right thing. But other messages were "ridiculous," Lando said, and had the potential to incite Thaxton.
Lackner said that even seemingly positive messages could have posed a problem because police were primarily concerned with establishing a one-to-one rapport and building trust with Thaxton.
"Any outside influence is distracting and, generally speaking, does not help our cause," Cmdr. Scott Schubert said. "We want our subject speaking to us."
Last year, a Utah man posted updates on his Facebook page during a 16-hour standoff with police. According to reports at the time, some of his friends and relatives urged him to "be careful" while at least one tipped him off to the location of a SWAT officer.
In another Utah case last year, a woman used Facebook to seek help after she and her 17-month-old son were held hostage at a residence for nearly five days. According to police, the woman hid in a closet with a laptop computer to post her plea for help, saying she and her son would be "dead by morning" if they were not rescued.
Thaxton, who remains jailed unable to post $1 million bond, faces a preliminary hearingOct. 17 on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and terroristic threats in the confrontation at a financial services firm on the 16th floor of Three Gateway Center, a 24-story office tower in Pittsburgh.
Although police were vitally concerned about the hostage's welfare, and did what they could to check up on him, the negotiators were careful not to ask Thaxton too much about his hostage.
"Clearly we're always very concerned about the hostage," Lando said. "But when we're doing negotiations, we have to make it all about the hostage taker."
Too many questions about the hostage and the suspect "might feel like, 'You don't care about me. You just want to say whatever you need to say to get this person (the hostage) out of here,'" Lando said.
Instead, negotiators try to find people the hostage taker cares about who will help the negotiator build empathy.
"People want to tell their story," Lando said. "Listening to them is a cheap concession."
In Thaxton's case, key issues were his inability to find a job and his feelings for an ex-girlfriend he hadn't seen since 2008. Police arranged for her to speak with Thaxton, but only once the hostage was released. Thaxton surrendered, and police were sure they could keep the woman safe with Thaxton handcuffed and in custody.
"We try to find hooks - their schooling, work history, personal relationships," Lando said. "Oftentimes personal relationships are the source of why they find themselves in crisis."

Social media training is very important for law enforcement officers in this new digital age.  For more information on Attorney Doug Stoehr and his central Pennsylvania law firm, please contact his Altoona office at 814-946-4100 or visit his websitehttp://www.stoehrlaw.com.

California Bans Social Media Password Requests

In the wake of social media being examined during job interviews, employment checks, and legal claims, some states have make it illegal for employees and universities to request social media usernames and passwords for employees and students.  Highlighted in a recent article by Megan Garber on 9/28/2012 for The Atlantic, California joined other states such as Maryland and Illinois in limiting this practice.  The original article may be viewed by reading below or clicking this link.

California just passed legislation that will prevent employers from demanding the social media passwords of employees current and potential -- and, at the same time, prevent institutions of higher education from demanding the same of their students. Yesterday, Jerry Brown signed two bills into law. The first, AB-1844, prevents employers from asking their staff for their social media usernames or passwords (and, in another iteration, from logging into social media in their presence). The second, SB-1349, extends that protection to students at California's many private and public colleges and universities. As Brown put it in a Facebook post, "California pioneered the social media revolution. These laws protect Californians from unwarranted invasions of their social media accounts."

While it's unclear how widespread the problem the new laws are addressing actually is, the author of the one of the California bills says that more than 100 cases currently before the National Labor Relations Board involve employer workplace policies around social media. And there are the high-profile cases: the Maryland Corrections department applicant who had his password demanded, the Michigan teacher's aide who was suspended after she refused to provide access to her Facebook account. Facebook, CNET notes, has also said it has experienced an increase in reports of employers seeking to gain "inappropriate access" to people's Facebook profiles or private information.
Here's the relevant language of the Assembly bill:
(a) As used in this chapter, "social media" means an electronic service or account, or electronic content, including, but not limited to, videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, instant and text messages, email, online services or accounts, or Internet Web site profiles or locations.
(b) An employer shall not require or request an employee or applicant for employment to do any of the following:
(1) Disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing personal social media.
(2) Access personal social media in the presence of the employer.
(3) Divulge any personal social media, except as provided in subdivision (c).
(c) Nothing in this section shall affect an employer's existing rights and obligations to request an employee to divulge personal social media reasonably believed to be relevant to an investigation of allegations of employee misconduct or employee violation of applicable laws and regulations, provided that the social media is used solely for purposes of that investigation or a related proceeding.
(d) Nothing in this section precludes an employer from requiring or requesting an employee to disclose a username, password, or other method for the purpose of accessing an employer-issued electronic device.
(e) An employer shall not discharge, discipline, threaten to discharge or discipline, or otherwise retaliate against an employee or applicant for not complying with a request or demand by the employer that violates this section. However, this section does not prohibit an employer from terminating or otherwise taking an adverse action against an employee or applicant if otherwise permitted by law.
The Senate bill, a companion bill to its Assembly-originated counterpart, added to that by extending the rights of nondisclosure to California's college and university students:
(a) Public and private postsecondary educational institutions, and their employees and representatives, shall not require or request a student, prospective student, or student group to do any of the following:
(1) Disclose a user name or password for accessing personal social media.
(2) Access personal social media in the presence of the institution's employee or representative.
(3) Divulge any personal social media information.
(b) A public or private postsecondary educational institution shall not suspend, expel, discipline, threaten to take any of those actions, or otherwise penalize a student, prospective student, or student group in any way for refusing to comply with a request or demand that violates this section.
(c) This section shall not do either of the following:
(1) Affect a public or private postsecondary educational institution's existing rights and obligations to protect against and investigate alleged student misconduct or violations of applicable laws and regulations.
(2) Prohibit a public or private postsecondary educational institution from taking any adverse action against a student, prospective student, or student group for any lawful reason.

The laws come on the heels of similar legislation passed in Delaware, Illinois, and Maryland. And a social media-oriented federal bill, the Password Protection Act Of 2012, is under consideration in Washington.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer in Altoona, PA who serves the central Pennsylvania area.  He urges all potential, past, and current clients to moderate their social media sites in order to protect their rights and the rights of their friends and family.  To learn more about his legal firm, please click here.

Social Media Insurance Policies?

Great Britain is now offering insurance exclusively for social media-related activities.  We can only assume that the United States will also such a service in the coming years. Social media can be very important in helping or hurting a personal injury claim. It is important to monitor what you post on websites such as Twitter or Facebook in order to avoid compromising the validity of your claim. Attorney Doug Stoehr recommends the following thought process when posting online: if you don't want the entire world to see what you're posting, don't post it. Your social media updates are not as private as you might think and may be brought up as evidence in a courtroom. For more information on his law practice, please click here.

More information about Great Britain insurance companies' new social media coverage may be found by reading below. 

The following article was originally run by the Insurance Business Review's online website, IRB.com, on 9/17/2012.  The original article may be read below or can be accessed by clicking this link.

ALLOW, the information privacy company, has implemented the UK’s first social media insurance for consumers, with a strategy to deal with the impact of reputational damage, account jacking and all other forms of ID theft.

Under the insurance cover, all the subscribers of ALLOW will get payment for legal advice and expert support in the event of a claim.
According to the service provider, the support includes legal assistance to help from online search experts to locate and remove, or bury, offending material.
This process of burying content, or 'reverse SEO', would normally cost thousands of pounds and is not generally available to the average consumer, ALLOW said.
ALLOW CEO Justin Basini said there were cases of hacking, account hijacking and reputational damage emerging all the time.
"Anyone that has suffered as a result of having their identity stolen or a third party taking over their accounts will know that this can be a distressing and arduous process to put right. We've got the solution," Basini added.
The company said the insured amount is £10,000 in professional fees and supplementary costs for any one incident in respect of identity theft or account jacking, or £3,500 in respect of any reputational damage sustained.
ALLOW's insurance supported protection for its members forms an integral part of the ALLOW Protect service, which costs £3.99 per month.
ALLOW Protect assists people with Facebook privacy, data protection, cutting down spam/ junk mail, blocking online tracking, and guarding against ID fraud by monitoring their personal data.

Social Media Changing The Way Lawyers Prosecute

According to an article by the Rockland County Times, Facebook and other social media sites are changing the ways that laws are interpreted and executed in terms of evidence and discovery. The article cited a particular example, similar to another cited in our blog earlier this week, that outlined the following:

"In another local case, a Westchester County jury dismissed a man’s personal injury case when it was discovered that he lied during his testimony regarding his injuries. During examination, the man testified that a slip and fall from a loading dock caused extensive back injuries that prevented him from engaging in many physical activities. However, when defense lawyers introduced the man’s Facebook page, a different story emerged.
The man had posted pictures of himself playing basketball, water skiing on vacation and even hauling heavy lumber used to rebuild the deck on his house, all while he claimed to be injured (and he didn’t have a permit to build the deck). It took the jury only 30 minutes to reach its verdict, denying the man’s claim in its entirety."

 In the wake of social media being used as evidence in court cases, some experts anticipate a few issues will start to creep up in national news.  One of the most pressing is publicity rights as they relate to social media.  When a person posts information and pictures, it may or may not be considered allowable for companies to use the information commercially without written consent.  This issue has not formally been decided, but will play a huge role in how internet advertisers create ads in the future.  Additionally, the concept of who actually owns a Twitter account is another hot-button issue. If a company uses a Twitter account for marketing and branding, does the employer or the employee own the account?  This becomes an issue if the employee chooses to leave the company and may request to take his/her account and followers somewhere else. 

Interestingly,  the Rockland County Times article also mentioned that National Labor Relations Board is currently trying to enact guidelines on to protect employee activities on social media sites. Last year alone, the NLRB was involved in many court cases based on employer-employee conflict regarding social media posts.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury attorney serving western and central Pennsylvania. Please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com. 

Facebook and Discovery In Legal Claims

Information from Facebook and other social media sites is becoming increasingly popular to use in the "discovery" aspect of personal injury litigation.  In recent years, several cases involving personal injury claims and social media have set the precedent for the admittance of social media into the courtroom for years to come.  One of these cases involved an employee of Weis Supermarkets suing the company because he claimed to have suffered an injury to his knee while working.  Although he did require surgery to correct his knee, he claimed that he could not participate in physical activity and never wore shorts because he was embarrassed by his surgical scar.  Discovery material provided from Facebook resulted in pictures of the employee engaging in intense physical activity, as well as wearing shorts that plainly showed his surgical scar.  Because the bulk of his case rested upon his inability to take part in the physical activities he had previously enjoyed, his case did not have much merit once the Facebook pictures were admitted as evidence.

This is just one of may cases in which social media had a negative impact on a client's personal injury claim.  If you are pursuing a personal injury claim, you should be careful about what you choose to post on social media sites.  Even if you are significantly injured, defense attorneys might try to twist what you write or update to compile a case against you. One picture, taken out of context, may cost you a significant amount of money in a personal injury case. 

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania. For more information on his firm, please click here.

Facebook Important in Personal Injury Claims

In recent years, legal guidelines have not been updated to reflect the changes made in technology, such as social media sites.  Social media sites include popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Google+.  Social media sites, in addition to being a way to keep in contact with friends and family, are also a way for lawyers to gather information about personal injury claims.

For those people who are pursuing a personal injury claim, it is becoming increasingly common for the defense to request the plaintiff's social media usernames and passwords.  Even if the plaintiff refuses, a court order might force them to turn over their log-in information.  With this knowledge, the defense can access your pictures, posts, friend activity, etc. to compile information about you that might be used in court.  This may range from social habits, physical activity, and any travel the plaintiff might have done.  Although this might not seem relevant, the information gathered may be used to argue that a person is more physically able than they let on (such as in the case of a personal injury claim) or that they might not be reliable (such as evidence of heavy drinking habits or illegal drug use).  For this reason, along with many others, it is important to monitor your Facebook profile and really think before you post anything.   Although you might have your privacy settings activated, they are not as effective as you might think and does not give you license to post anything you wish.  Additionally, if you are not really injured or not as extensively injured as you let on, you should not be pursuing a personal injury claim in that line.  A good rule of thumb is to remember that everything you post online could potentially be public information, so monitor your internet usage accordingly.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He is a SuperLawyer and a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.  For more information on his practice, please click here.

Facebook May Influence Your Claim

A recent trend in legal matters is the acceptance of social media findings into the courtroom.  For many people, this means that their pictures, status updates, messages to friends, and other personal information may be used in court to either strengthen or weaken their case.  Employers are also getting involved in looking into their employee's social media circles, and some are requesting social media passwords of both employees and interviewees applying for jobs.  Employers may also request "shoulder surfing", where an employee/interviewee logs into their social media site and surfs through their profile and pages while their employer/interviewer is watching.  


This has many implications for clients pursuing a personal injury claim.  Similar to applying for a job or being an employee within a company, your social media activity is not as private or as protected as you may think.  For example, an innocent picture of you enjoying a short walk after your accident may be misconstrued as a full and complete recovery.  Additionally, posts/comments from friends suggesting that you're healthier than you really are may come across as you being insincere about your injury as well.  Social media may become dangerous for a case when certain pictures or comments are taken out of context and may be used against you.  For this reason, if you are hesitant about posting a picture or writing a comment that you feel may be used against your case, use discretion and do not post that item.  It may be even be better to not discuss your injury, and especially your legal claim, over Facebook at all.  The only way to keep your personal life as private as you want it to be is to not post anything you wouldn't want everyone to know about.


If you would like more information about this page or central Pennsylvania attorney Doug Stoehr's areas of practice, contact our Altoona, Pennsylvania, law firm by calling 814-946-4100.

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