2 Things You Should Never Do After Being Injured in an Auto Accident Before Consulting Your Attorney

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You likely know that, the first thing you should do after being injured in a vehicle accident is call a good car accident lawyer. He or she will stick up for you and your rights when your auto insurance company or the auto insurance company of the at-fault driver tries to get you to agree to accept much less compensation that you deserve. However, you may not realize that many of your actions, whether they seem linked to your accident and injuries or not, can affect whether you end up getting the compensation you deserve in your settlement or not.

As a rule, keep in contact with your attorney for advice until your case is completely settled. Here are two things you should never do after being injured in an auto accident before consulting your attorney. 

1. Make Any Posts on Social Media

Unfortunately, after being injured in an auto accident (especially if the injuries are severe), you may not be able to work or perform activities around the house. This can make it all-too-easy to begin spending long days on social media posting even more than usual just to stave off boredom and loneliness. 

However, not only should you avoid posting any information about your auto accident and resulting injuries on social media, but you really should take a break from it altogether. 

Insurance companies likely have staff dedicated to finding something on your social media accounts that they can twist and turn against you to insinuate you may not be injured as badly as you really are and are instead committing insurance fraud. 

For example, a simple post stating "I am feeling a little better today" posted in attempt to ease the worries of others could be used against you by the insurance company; they may claim that with your injuries, you should be having no days where you feel "a little better" and use this post to try to accuse you of insurance fraud. 

Also, if you frequently post snapshots of your meals, that should stop when you become injured. The insurance company could claim that someone as ill as you shouldn't have a healthy appetite and again, use this to try to convince a judge that you are lying about your injuries. 

2. Attempt to Make a Few Bucks by Working Under-the-table or Applying for Jobs You Feel You Can Do While Injured

If your injuries were severe enough that they forced you to take time off work to recover, then it can be very tempting to try to make a few bucks here or there performing tasks for pay that you feel you can still perform while injured. Or you may be tempted to submit a few applications to offices hiring for positions that allow you to sit while working if the job you are missing time from required labor that you just can't perform right now. 

First, taking money "under-the-table" for performing a task can be legally risky for the person who pays you depending on the exact requirements of the job. If it does turn out that the person paying you cash is doing so to skirt tax laws, this will reflect badly on you, and the insurance company may use this information to convince a judge that you are not a person who respects the law, which would insinuate that you would possibly lie about injuries to get more compensation than you deserve. 

In addition, when the insurance company's private investigators find out that you are performing any work for pay, whether legal or not, they may also attempt to use this information to convince a judge that you are not as badly injured as you claim. 

However, if you feel you need to work while injured due to loss of a labor-intensive job, there are circumstances when you can as long as the work does not require movement of any injured body parts or doesn't require you to exert yourself more than a typical person with your unique injuries generally can. But before you even submit any job applications, speak to your car accident lawyer. He or she can inform you of what jobs are best for you in your specific circumstance that the insurance company is least likely to attempt to use against you in court. 

After being injured in a car accident, it is important to pay attention to everything you do and say, because the auto insurance company will try to find ways to disprove that you are injured as badly as you are or even injured at all. Always give your car accident lawyer a call before doing anything new to make sure it is not something that the insurance company can use against you.

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18 November 2016