Can They Do Surveillance On Me?
I want to talk to you about: Can they do surveillance on me? In other words, can they hire a private investigator to follow me around and take video of me and stuff like that if I have an injury case.
The short answer is yes, they can and they do. It's more common in workers comp cases but I've also had it happen in car crash cases and fall down cases and any case where my client is claiming profound ongoing problems. But I would say that on average it's far more likely to happen in a workers comp case, where you're claiming permanence and they suspect you might be working another job or you might be doing something.
They can do it before you file a lawsuit or even when the case ensues. I would say, in third-party cases like car crash or fall down or medical malpractice, it's more common once the case is in suit. It usually means that there are other defenses to the case are not going that well. And that they're hoping to get you doing something on video that you shouldn't be doing.
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Video Footage
In one case, I had a guy who was involved in a car accident. We were in suit, they didn't want to pay, they didn't believe he was hurt that badly, they hired a doctor to say his surgery was unrelated to his car crash and he had arthritis and all this stuff. They were fighting the case tooth and nail.
We filed a lawsuit on it. And then the right before the pre-trial, we agreed to do a pre-trial conference to try and settle the case, the attorney indicated to me "well we've got really bad video of your client shoveling snow and we've got video of him shoveling snow for like two solid hours with that big snowstorm, we had right before his deposition". That's another thing they do.
They like to get footage of you and then ask you questions about the specific activities that you were doing. If they have video of you changing your oil on your car, they want to get you in your deposition to say that "no, I never work on my car anymore" or if you're shoveling snow, at your deposition, they want to commit you to saying, "no, I haven't touched a shovel at any point in my entire life".
Review Every Minute Of The Video
Now in this case the joke was on them because it was my client's brother who came over to shovel the snow for him. Luckily, there was a face shot in the video. That one ended up settling for a substantial amount of money because we took the time to go over every minute of the video.
They recorded probably six hours of video of our client. And we went page by page by page through it. We disclosed the brother as a witness and we blew up that portion of the video and it was obvious it wasn't him. Sometimes it's hard to tell if you're in a in a winter coat with a hood up which is how people usually shovel snow.
Be Mindful When Out On Public
Anyway, whether it's workers comp or third-party PI, any kind of case, they can surveil you. So what do normal people who are hurt do? Well they still have to live their life. It means they might go to the grocery store. They might carry groceries. If there's something minor with their car that they know how to fix easily, they'll try to do it. But you do have to be aware that when you've got an injury case, you have to be mindful that you don't want to be doing anything in public that if they get video of, it'll hurt your case.
I did have a case a number of years ago, where another gentleman was claiming a very serious back injury. They had video of him doing all kinds of stuff. The worst part was him jumping on a trampoline. They had video of him at his like nephew's birthday party or something like that.
And he's like acting normal. I don't know if he was drinking or what was going on there, but he was jumping up and down on a trampoline. And anyone with a neck or back injury knows that if you jump up, if you've got harsh daily pain and there's video of you jumping up on a trampoline, a jury is not going to believe it.
Do Not Confront Them
Even if it's legit and even if the day after jumping on the trampoline he paid for it, with a lot of pain and all that. Video of that they say a picture's worth a thousand words, it's really worth a million words. One video or one picture can destroy your case. Be mindful when you're out in public, if you've got a permanent serious injury. And if you think somebody's following you around or recording you, they probably are. Now don't go don't go confront them, but just be mindful that it might happen. Don't do anything.
I think it's human nature to want to try and do as much as you can do, especially if you don't have money coming in. You don't want to take your car to the repair shop or pay somebody to shovel, but be mindful that if you are doing stuff in public like that, you could have a real problem.
So hope that information helps you. If you need a lawyer or you or a loved one needs an attorney or just has some questions please feel free to give me a call.
