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For many men and women, the thought of their being under surveillance stirs up disquieting feelings. Still, if any of those same adults were to become the victim of an act of violence, their lawyers would welcome discovery of taped footage from a camera in the area of the violent incident. Personal Injury Lawyer in St John’s knows that surveillance gets used to identify wrong-doers.

That does not mean that someone has broken the law by admitting to the fact that he or she has become disabled. On the other hand, claiming falsely to be disabled is a fraudulent act. Insurance companies have good reason for seeking to discover any proof that a policy holder might have committed such an act.

The nature of surveillance by insurance companies

Insurers want to know the daily routine of a policy holder that claims to be grappling with a disability. An insurer can hire an investigator to take pictures or video footage of the policy holder, while performing acts that are part of that daily routine. An investigator might also take notes.

The existence of the Internet has added another aspect to the process of surveilling certain policy holders. An insurance company can have some of its employees examine the materials that specific policy holders have posted online. Those employees will concentrate on examining what has been posted on social media networks. A disabled person that has entered a claim should know that no amount of surveilling proceeds for a prolonged amount of time. It takes place over only a limited amount of time. Moreover, it lacks any real context.

Why is it important that an investigator’s pictures lack any real context?

A lawyer with a disabled client can use that fact in preparing a defense, if an insurance company has suggested that the lawyer’s client is faking his or her disability. The lawyer has access to the client’s full medical record. That record can be used to highlight the incomplete nature of the information found in the investigator’s one or two pictures.

In addition, an injury lawyer can speak with a client that has been targeted by surveillance. During that conversation, the injury lawyer can get the client’s full account of the taped or photographed incident. The client-injury lawyer conversation should reveal the full account of that particular experience.

Lawyers understand how to show a jury the extent to which one picture has failed to capture the entirety of a given experience. In that way, lawyers have learned how to deal with the materials from investigators that get presented in court. The lawyers’ knowledge and experience helps them to downplay the significance of such materials.

A lawyer’s message for disabled clients with a personal injury claim.

Admit what you can do without experiencing discomfort.