Facebook – an Insurance Company’s best friend
I’ve just read the Supreme Court of NSW Court of Appeal Judgment in TAL Life Ltd v Shuetrim. The case is about how Insurers should go about determining whether a person meets the definition of being totally and permanently disabled. I read the Judgment because of what it says about a particular technical legal issue – but the following passage is interesting as it shows the dangers that Facebook poses for people making claims against Insurance Companies:
Although Mr Shuetrim had said he had difficulties driving (he said that he could only keep his left arm on the steering wheel “for around 10 minutes or so before my left elbow pain becomes too severe” and “I find that I develop panic attacks should the road situation become complicated for me”), and entering busy shopping centres (“[m]erely the thought of shopping or going to shopping centres is an issue for me” and “[a]rriving [at] the car park and seeing a lot of cars will cause me to turn back and go home”), he accepted by reference to a photograph of himself in the driver’s seat of his car, posted on his Facebook page, that he had gone to a shopping centre to purchase the sunglasses worn in the photograph, and ultimately accepted that he frequently drove his car in his local area.
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