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Technology: Friend or Foe to New York Personal Injury Attorneys and their Clients?

In September 2010, Nebraska State created an iPhone application that allows realtime searching of its court dockets by date, time, and location. Although it appears the app has its share of kinks to work out, such a tool could be a useful aid to attorneys in all states who need to obtain reliable information when they are out of the office. With today’s onslaught of mobile technologies, such as iPads, tablets, and compact laptops, it seems natural that attorneys would be able to work anywhere that they can get a signal. Yet, Nebraska seems to be the only state to have such an app available. In New York, some personal injury attorneys could use a state generated court app, since some docket searching sites, like e-law, do not work on all mobile phones.

Notwithstanding all of the virtues, it bears reminding that technology can do some harm too. In the same month the Nebraska court app was authorized, Judge Jeffrey Arlen Spinner of the Suffolk County Supreme Court ruled that a woman who claimed that injuries resulted in the loss of enjoyment of her life had to turn over information from her Myspace and Facebook accounts in her personal injury suit. Not only did she want to keep the information private for personal reasons, but the disclosure of the information could have undermined her claim of having sustained severe injuries. Nevertheless, maintaining and posting to a Facebook or Myspace account does not preclude an injured person from succesfully bringing a personal injury action or always mandate that an injured party turn over private information from social networking accounts. For more information, contact an experienced New York personal injury attorney.

Leav & Steinberg, LLP predominantly practices in the five counties that comprise the City of New York: Bronx, Kings, New York, Richmond, and Queens. However, we also practice in surrounding areas, such as Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. We currently have offices in downtown Manhattan and Bronx and maintain a large network of experienced accident attorneys who practice in the geographic areas that fall outside of our proximity.

Resources:

American Bar Association Journal, January 2011, “iCourt” by Ed Finkel.

Kathleen Romano v. Steelcase Inc. and Educational & Institutional Cooperative Services Inc.