Insurance Claims and Your Privacy
If you have a claim against an insurance company there is a good chance that you will be the subject of surveillance. In personal injury and disability insurance claims it is common for insurance companies to hire private investigators to follow the injured claimant and videotape his or her activities.
An investigator cannot trespass on private property. However, our law allows an investigator to wait outside a claimant’s house and take pictures and video of the claimant when he or she leaves the house.
In this increasingly electronic age insurance companies are becoming more sophisticated in the way they gather information about claimants. Insurers commonly monitor Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites to gather information. There is a risk that anything posted on the Internet will find its way into the hands of an insurance adjuster. As a result, personal injury lawyers now warn their clients to be very careful about their Internet activities.
About the Authors
Troy Lehman joined Oatley Vigmond in 2006 and became a partner in 2010. As a personal injury lawyer, his greatest satisfaction comes from helping people through to the other side of a difficult time in their lives. “We’re here to help and relieve stress,” Troy says. “When I walk into a first meeting with a client, people are often scared and anxious. And for me, the best thing that can happen at the end of the meeting is that they say, ‘I feel so much better.’