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Fitbit and Other Wearable Fitness Trackers in Personal Injury Cases

Nicole Black at Mycase.com blogged recently about information from wearable technology being used in legal cases. The blog can be found here. I'd like to expand on the potential of such technology affecting personal injury cases.

The main way such technology could be used in a personal injury case is either to support or refute a personal injury client's injuries. It could be used to show that the client's activity levels have decreased since the accident, supporting the claim and increasing value. It could also be used to refute such claims. If the data shows a continued level of activity or an increased level of activity, it could be used by the defense to show the injury was not as severe as the client says.

Furthermore, and as an expansion of Ms. Black's points, it could be used to support or refute what the client was doing at the time of injury. If the client claims he or she was injured while riding a bike or walking (such as in a slip or trip and fall case), the data should support that claim. The activity level in the data should match the activity the client was claiming he or she was doing when the accident happened. Or, it could be used to refute such claim.

Some devices even track location and could be used to establish the client was or wasn't in a particular place at a given time. For example, if the client claims he or she was at a store and slipped on water, but the data from the wearable fitness device shows he or she was at home or somewhere else, it could destroy the case. Likewise, the data could be used to verify the client's location.

There are many instances where data from wearable fitness technology could be used in a personal injury case and such data should be preserved at the outset. Contact us today for the legal assistance you need!

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