Facebook As Court Evidence?

YES IT IS!
Lets face it with the advent of the internet the world is a much smaller place. People can be found in a blink online if you know what to look for. Facebook has made this info even more accessible. As a user of facebook I do believe it is important to use and create a community online because of the many benefits and opportunities it lends, but, you must also be aware of some of the possible problems associated with it.

With courtroom evidence it can be a particularly troubling web application. Below I have attached a link an article from USA Today a couple years back that illustrates the effect facebook can have on a court's decision.

In the article a young man in college caused an accident while drunk driving that caused a 20 yr old girl to be severely injured and hospitalized for over a week. 2 weeks after he was charged with drunk driving this young man attended a Halloween party dressed as  prisoner with an orange jump suit labeled jail bird. Not surprisingly these pictures were found and submitted to court to demonstrate that the defendant was not remorseful for his actions. Ultimately, this information was used as character evidence by the judge and the defendant was given longer sentencing.

    The important thing to remember is that facebook is for the world to see and once its posted that information is no longer yours its the world's and it can be used to bite you on the butt if you aren't careful. Please read this startling article on facebook in use at courts for character reference.

here is the link to the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-07-19-facebook-trials_N.htm


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Defendants Wrongful Use Of Process

It is a tort to use the civil or criminal form of process to primarily seek a result other than that for which the form of process was intended. The conduct that encompasses the abuse of process is a defendant's wrongful use of the process for an ulterior purpose and some willful act in the use of the process to accomplish that ulterior purpose.

For example, if a defendant obtains a judgment against a plaintiff for a debt, and the plaintiff subsequently pays the debt, the defendant is liable for abuse of process if he takes out an execution on the judgment.

Abuse of process does not involve the wrongful bringing of a suit, which is the tort of malicious prosecution. Rather, it involves the improper use of the process after the suit has properly begun. Abuse of process also does not cover situations in which a defendant has an incidental motive of spite or an ulterior purpose to bringing the action if the action is brought primarily for the purpose for which the form of process was intended. Thus, a person who prosecutes an accused based on the accused's unlawful act is not abusing the process merely because he incidentally does not like the accused.

The usual case of abuse of process occurs with relation to extortion, whereby a person uses the process to put pressure upon another to compel him to pay a debt not related to the action.

The defendant will be liable to the plaintiff for any harm caused by the abuse of process.

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Why Everyone Should Have Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UIM)

Un-insured motorist coverage is perhaps one of the more obscure lines of insurance applications but it is often the most needed insurance. In fact this it is the policy they don't want you to pick out because it is the one that they have to payout on most and is some of the cheaper insurance policies you can buy.

Yes, here in California we use insurance to minimize our liability to others while we drive. With everyone required to be insured before they can drive, that should cover everyone, making it so you don't have to worry about the liability of a car accident right? Wrong, when in a car accident you are going to be facing bills. With these bills coming up you may find that California minimum required policy is $15,000 and that is nowhere near enough. If the crash wasn't your fault your insurance will do everything they can to pass on the liability to the other company, rather than take care of their client and then ask for the bills to be paid later. Sadly, this is how it works. and the insurance companies certainly give you the runaround prolonging payouts as much as they can which is what you can expect from them. There is a way to get your insurance on your team when you have been hit by someone else, and it is actually pretty cheap.

There is only one way to have this done and that is with UIM. UIM ( uninsured or underinsured coverage) is useful for two reasons, first the obvious one: if you are hit by someone who does not have auto insurance you will still be insured. The other reason is if they do not have enough insurance coverage. If you you are in a car accident and injured it is more than likely that your medical expenses will well pass the minimum requirements for CA insurance liability which is $15,000. To ensure that this does not occur all insurance companies are mandated to offer UnInsured Motorist insurance at a reduced rate even. How UIM works is on top of the existing insurances. So if you are hit by a person who has the minimum insurance policy of $15,000 and you are injured. That $15,000 is going to be a plink in the bucket but you can be saved by the UIM. Say you got a policy for 100,000, that will then take effect on top of the insurance policy of the person who collided with you so now you have 115,000 worth of coverage and that is quite a bit more realistic for the cost medical care and bills while you are laid up recovering. The other amazing part of this is that now your insurance has a vested interest in making sure the other insurance company pays so that they don't have to. Suddenly the insurance is actually starting to work for you and sooner because of their liability for payout. What a great product UIM is right?!

The thing is, these insurance companies present this option as an extra when this should be a mandatory fixture, especially if you plan on driving more than one person often. Insurance companies play down the importance of UIM because it is where they loose most of their money. You will often see a pop up screen asking if you want the extra coverage and having decline highlighted, the insurance companies do this because you are trained to dislike and close pop ups especially when asking for money. Ignore the temptation to close the page and look it over, purchasing UIM could be one of the best decisions you have ever made.

The Backgound: Law Office Of Ball And Yorke

Ball & Yorke

From 1989 through 1997, Ball & Yorke successfully represented the interests of large corporations, including the Vons Companies, Food4Less and Fedco, as well as multinational insurance interests State Farm, Hartford Mutual, CNA, Chubb Insurance and Allstate.

Changes in their philosophy, however, moved the firm to abandon their representation of these powerful interests. The partners found insurance defense work to be unfulfilling and impersonal. Having entered the field in the hopes of serving justice, Allen and Brian parted ways with its corporate clientele and turned their focus on the interests of injured individuals on a full time basis.

To this day, the firm continues to represent the interests of individuals whether they are plaintiffs or defendants.

Since 1998, Ball & Yorke has represented thousands of individuals and their families in a wide variety of civil matters, from personal injury to real estate. Allen and Brian have helped people hurt in car accidents, stood with the victims of insurance bad faith and fraud, represented employees wrongfully terminated, and assisted those afflicted with catastrophic personal injury matters. Ball & Yorke has handled complex business litigation on behalf of small business owners, successfully represented consumers from defects in faulty products, and has masterfully resolved complex real estate transactions.

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