I have become a fan of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as a way to stay in touch with old school friends and help market my injury practice in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA). The public needs to be aware of the harm that they can cause to themselves by using these sites to post sensitive or private information in the situation where they are involved in a serious injury lawsuit. Once you post something on the internet it is there forever and open to anyone including the big insurance company who is fighting against you on your car wreck claim. The whole job of an insurance claims representative is to pay you as little as they can on your accident case, while the insurer’s sales agents take in as many premium dollars as they can from you and the person who is at-fault in causing the collision that hurt you.
Using the internet and Googling a car accident victim is just another tool in the insurance defense lawyer’s arsenal of weapons against you. If they can find anything that goes against your credibility before the jury on one of these sites, it can be a disaster for your case. The insurance industry already uses the computer to be able to go back and track every car accident or claim that ever occurred in your lifetime through their data banks. Now with people putting up their own private information on these websites, the insurers can have a field day looking through the social networking posts to find some way to attack you and make you seem less deserving of compensation. To read more about it, click here for a library article posted on one of our law firm’s sites.
About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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