How Surveillance Affects Injury Claims

Various surveillance methods are routinely used by insurance companies and their lawyers to challenge personal injury claims. For example, if an investigator films or photographs you participating in activities that contradict your claims about being severely injured, they will use the evidence to reduce or deny settlement payouts. 

Conversely, surveillance could prove that your injuries are legitimate and strengthen your case. It all depends on what the surveillance uncovers and the car accident personalized legal help you retain.

Types of Surveillance

Insurance companies do not need to tell you if or when they are watching you. This is one way they can ensure you’re not lying about your injuries. It is also how insurance companies try to reduce the amount they must pay someone who legitimately suffers losses or injuries during an accident.

The ways you might be watched include:

• Public cameras: Film footage from cameras in public places (e.g., traffic cameras, security cameras, or dashcam footage) may be collected when there are differing accounts of what happened.
• Private investigators: A private investigator may try to film or photograph you working, shopping, walking the dog, and participating in other activities to prove you are not in pain or can enjoy life fully.
• Social media and accident claims: It is common for social media accounts to be scoured for posts that contradict claims about physical injuries or emotional distress (e.g., at a party, smiling with friends).
• Covert conversations: An investigator may try to engage in conversation in public and ask questions about your accident.

Unfortunately, short videos or still photographs can be easily taken out of context, and this surveillance can affect injury claims. While these images may show someone engaging in an activity that seems contrary to their medical situation, they do not show the pain, fatigue, or the amount of time it takes to recover afterward.

For example, a video clip might show an accident victim who filed a complaint about back pain carrying a large box to the garbage, but the clip won’t show if the box is empty, or if the person carrying it had to spend the next three hours lying on the floor until their back stopped spasming. If the victim lives alone, they may have no choice but to take the box to the trash themselves. 

Surveillance Boundaries

Insurance companies are allowed to film anyone making a claim as much as they want, within limits, to ensure their claims are consistent with their behavior. While following a person, the investigator must operate within the law and respect the victim’s privacy.

Private investigators can film a person in public, but they are not allowed to trespass on private property, record through certain windows, or film someone inside their home or any other place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. 

Contact Gage Mathers Today 

Gage Mathers has decades of experience helping accident victims like you. We understand how insurance companies surveil claimants and can explain the catastrophic injury claim timeline. The lawyers at Gage Mathers will also tell you how to avoid getting into trouble because of something you said or did after an accident that was caught on film!

About the Author

Joseph D'Aguanno

Guided by the belief that being a highly skilled specialist in a narrow field is better than being ordinary in everything, Joseph “JD” D’Aguanno leads Arizona’s best personal injury law firm in Phoenix, AZ. Having extensive cross-training in pre-litigation negotiations and trial lawyer skills, with decades of experience, JD strives to provide clients with the most valuable legal services a personal injury lawyer can provide. Under his direction, Gage Mathers Law Group is an award-winning personal injury law firm providing aggressive representation to victims of a car accident, medical malpractice, dog bite, motorcycle accident, and other injurious events. Gage Mathers is trusted by thousands of lawyers and clients throughout the country because of their reputation for getting clients the maximum compensation they deserve.

Years of experience: Over 24 years
Bar number: 020421
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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