back to article Man's MySpace page torpedoes personal injury suit

A computer animator's $2.5m personal injury lawsuit suffered a near-fatal blow thanks in part to MySpace postings that undermined claims his life had become "hell on earth." Eric Sedie of Corte Madera, California testified that as a result of injuries sustained during a 2006 collision with a United States Postal Service truck " …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Compo

    No not that Compo,Does the lower pay out in the States mean he is liable for the costs of the other side as I believe is the case in the UK if you do not get the same payout that you are claiming if so then he would have been better of going low and walking/limping away with it all OR changing the permissions of his Facebook/My space pages.(I could be wrong though)

    1. Trevor Marron

      Costs in the UK

      You have to pay the defendant's costs if you refuse an offer then the court orders a lower award than the offer. They have to make an offer, it is not just based on the initial clam amount.

  2. Blue eyed boy
    Joke

    "when his arm hairs would get caught in paint."

    I would have used a brush myself

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I live by one simple rule: keep your shit off the Interwebs

    AC obviously

  4. Mike Echo

    What a maroon

    Why don't these people get it? Writing online about things (slagging your boss, bragging about that sickie you took because of a hangover, etc,) is just plain stupid. It will always come back to bite you on the arse later. Idjits.

  5. TonyK

    Sounds like a win to me

    In what way did this man lose? He was awarded $297,624.66.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      His lawyer

      He'll be wanting his 50% of the 2.3 million he expected

  6. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Never, never, never....

    ...use your real name/details on the Interwebs*

    * unless via a trusted and secure site/transaction.

  7. lglethal Silver badge
    FAIL

    Sorry im missing something here...

    ... the judge felt that he was lying, exaggerating and making stuff up, yet still awarded him compo?

    Ok maybe there was injuries which he needed money to pay for, but lying in court (or even exaggerating) is Perjury and (should) come with a custodial sentence.

    Ok award him the $300k, but lock him up for 6 months for lying to the court! It might make other bullsh*t artists question just how much they want to exaggerate there claims by!

    Fail by the judge...

  8. Pete 2 Silver badge

    A real place?

    > that cyberspace .. is a real place with real connections

    Ahem. Real places are ones I can walk,drive or fly to. They are ones with ground under your feet and trees and buildings. Now I appreciate that the person who made that comment may not have common sense as a first language, but even so - to describe what is in effect a diary as a "real place" shows a level of detachment that's alarming.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    myspace not that important

    I should think the "surveillance videos" of him did the most damage.

    Nothing like showing a clip of the individual kicking a ball around the park with their family to call question about their claim that they are unable to walk without a stick.

    1. perlcat
      Black Helicopters

      in the insurance biz

      we used to say "a picture may be worth a thousand words, but that video of your back injury claimant roofing his house is pretty near priceless."

      Losers.

      They make life very hard for people with real problems.

  10. The_Police!
    Coat

    Indeed

    *That included riding his bicycle, painting, and any vigorous activity*

    Does that include panting and moaning whilst performing a vigorous activity?

    Mines the one with 'crazy' on the side.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another...

    Another story that purports to be about some web 2.0 site and the real world but isn't. The headline suggests that the significant part of the case was a Myspace posting, but reading the detail would suggests otherwise.

    "As a result of the "inconsistencies," which were also included in Facebook postings, surveillance videos and testimony from expert witnesses,"

    Do with think some web 2.0 postings carry as much evidential weight as surveilance videos and expert testimony. Reasonable people don't, web 2.0 obsessives might. However the headline "Surveilance Videos and Expert Testimony torpedoes personal injury suit" probably wouldn't attract as many readers. Ho hum.

    Please stop lending some sort of legitimacy to all these web 2.0 numpties.

  12. Stevie

    Bah!

    I think there's a market here for a 'bot that makes sure your -w-e-b-c-r-a-p- social networking pages agree with your injury claims. I have a proof-of-concept perl script that can take a general list of injuries and create hourly updates along the lines of:

    "Argh! Attempting to use lavatory but the injuries I sustained to my [insert body part] make it an exercise in humiliation, pain and suffering."

    "Can only walk in circles since [insert accident details]. Just spent 25 dizzying minutes attempting to get into kitchen to make self bowl of soup. Soup was cold by the time I spiraled to table."

    "Vertigo worse".

    "In agony still. Thinking of killing self but cannot work out how due to permanent migraine I have suffered since the [insert injury details]"

    "Have taken more pain meds aSDKN;',koqg;ffffhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

    "Am picking up sound from channel 9's traffic chopper on the pins put into my [insert skeleton component] AGAIN! When will I be free of this agony?"

    "If only I had the full use of [name body part] again, but thanks to [insert large corporation name] that can never be."

    Provided no one with an iPhone snarfs pix of you bowling or bricklaying or skiing you should be in like Flynn.

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