Most people have heard the warning “be careful with what you put on social media”. It is relatively well known that many businesses check an applicant’s social media pages as part of the application process. Likewise, many colleges screen a student’s social media pages as part of the college application process. However, most people are not aware of the fact that social media can also be used as evidence during a legal proceeding. This issue recently came before the Second District Court of Appeal in Root v. Balfour Beatty Const. LLC, 132 So. 3d 867 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014).
In Root the plaintiff filed suit for negligence against the City of Cape Coral and various contractors for damages suffered by Plaintiff’s three-year old son when he was struck by an oncoming vehicle in front of a construction site. In her lawsuit the Plaintiff alleged the Defendants were negligent for failing to use reasonable care in maintaining the safety of the construction site for pedestrians. Defendants filed a discovery request asking Plaintiff to produce copies of posting on her Facebook account relating to her relationship with her family, her son, and mental health issues. The trial court entered an order requiring Plaintiff to produce copies of her Facebook postings. On appeal, the Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision because the Facebook postings were irrelevant and did not pertain to the accident itself or any the defenses raised by the Defendants.
Although the Plaintiff in Root prevailed on appeal it is important to note that the appellate court specifically acknowledged that “trial courts around the country have repeatedly determined that social media evidence is discoverable”. The same rule applies in Florida which means that as long as the social media evidence is relevant to the claims at issue in the litigation and admissible in court, or reasonably calculated to lead to evidence that is discoverable in court, it will be discoverable.