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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Employment and Workers Comp

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Monday, October 28, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$197.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will examine the use of social media evidence in workers' compensation claims from employee and defense perspectives. The panel will address how to advise employees on the use of social media once they have made a claim and to mitigate the risk of spoliation of evidence. The panel will also advise on how to conduct social media investigations and under what circumstances social media evidence is admissible.

Faculty

Kristin E. Lechowicz
Attorney
Downey & Lenkov, LLC

Ms. Lechowicz concentrates her practice in workers’ compensation defense. She vigorously represents employers and insurance carriers throughout all stages of litigated matters. Her knowledge in handling cases on behalf of both petitioners and respondents gives her a unique advantage when it comes to counseling, evaluating, and developing practical and effective defense strategies. Additionally, Ms. Lechowicz also has vast experience handling premises liability cases.

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Marcy E. Bennett
Income Member
Downey & Lenkov, LLC

Ms. Bennett concentrates her practice in insurance and workers’ compensation defense. She provides an aggressive and thorough approach to each claim, working closely with insurance companies, third-party administrators and employers alike to achieve positive results in the most cost-efficient manner. Prior to joining Downey & Lenkov, Ms. Bennett gained significant experience in workers’ compensation defense with another prominent Chicago law firm, where she handled all aspects of litigation.

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Emily J. Schlecte
Income Member
Downey & Lenkov, LLC

Ms. Schlecte focuses her practice in workers’ compensation and general liability claims. She earned her Juris Doctorate from The John Marshall Law School. Prior to joining Downey & Lenkov, Ms. Schlecte gained significant experience in workers’ compensation with another Chicago firm, where she handled all aspects of litigation.

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Description

When an employee files a workers' compensation claim, the insurance company and defense counsel spend significant resources investigating the facts of the matter. These investigations include conducting extensive social media searches where it is customary for users to share thoughts, videos, and photographs, among other things, in their social media accounts.

For employee claimants, the use of social media could be problematic where posts may contradict the facts of their injury claims. Further issues arise when claimants delete posts that may be relevant to their claim, resulting in spoliation of evidence.

On the other hand, defense counsel should be careful to use appropriate search methods when conducting investigations and understand the admissibility requirements when using social media evidence to refute a workers' comp claim.

Listen as our expert panel discusses the use of social media evidence in workers' comp claims from employee and defense perspectives. The panel will offer best practices including advising clients on the use of social media when they have made a claim and determining when and how to conduct social media searches to collect admissible evidence.

Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. Social media evidence
    1. Acquiring social media evidence
      1. Purposes
      2. Methods
    2. Admissibility of evidence
      1. When the evidence may be allowed or disallowed
      2. Jurisdictional issues
  3. Claimant considerations
  4. Defense considerations
  5. Avoiding spoliation and other misuse of social media evidence
  6. Practitioner takeaways

Benefits

The panel will review these and other important issues:

  • What are the best practices for conducting social media investigations? For requesting social media evidence?
  • When is social media evidence admissible?
  • How should claimants' counsel advise their clients on the use of social media once they have filed a workers' comp claim?
  • How can claimants' counsel mitigate the risk of evidence spoliation by their clients?
  • What disciplinary action may result if social media evidence is misused?