Twitter post resulted in a woman’s damages decreasing in court
Omiesha Daniels’ Twitter posts were used against her in court after her car accident in 2011. With a broken arm and a forehead laceration, Daniels claimed that she was unable to do her job as a hair stylist. Defense attorney J. Robb Cruser showed the jury that she had been living carefree after the accident. Daniels sought $1.1 Million and the jury returned a $237,000 verdict and apportioned down to $142,000.
Daniels had posted on Twitter pictures of her and her friends in New Orleans and on the beach for Spring Break. She had pictures of her carrying a handbag with her injured arm and post that said “I’m starting to love my scar.” The all-white jury had a hard time understanding the difficulties of Daniels job as an African American hair stylist which involved hair braiding and weaving.
Daniels accident had occurred in 2011, when she was a passenger in a 2004 Ford Taurus driven by her friend. A 2008 Ford work van driven by Jerry Garrett, an Atlanta Refrigeration Service Co. employee, was driving the opposite direction and turned left. Daniels car slammed on the brakes and skidded into Garrett. Daniels was then taken in an ambulance to Gwinett Medical Center to be treated.
Michael Goldberg, Daniels attorney, had warned her of the consequences of what she posted on the internet. Law Groups are now being encouraged to look at Facebook at Twitter postings before taking cases. The younger generations are even having post used against them that may not pertain to the specific case.
You should always be very careful of what you are posting to social networks and taking into consideration that there are many people you don’t even know reading your post. We previously saw how social media can hurt you in any case. Read about how a Facebook blunder of a man deleting a picture caused him a $600,000 fine. Your “right to privacy” is trumped by the court system’s right to full access to any and all evidence about you, your health, and the events of the wreck or event.