Published by The Pellegrin Firm December 3, 2019

Posting on social media can be dangerous if you have filed or are thinking about filing a long-term disability claim. It is now standard operating procedure among long-term disability insurers to check a claimant’s social media history in the hopes of finding anything that may contradict a claimant’s allegations of disability. In a recent case out of Ohio, a federal court found that Standard Insurance Company’s use of social media posts to make its claim decision was not arbitrary and capricious. Plaintiff claimed disability due to back, leg, and spine pain, as well as headaches, ulcerative colitis, and the side effects of narcotic pain medications. Standard retained two physicians who reviewed the plaintiff’s medical records and determined he could perform his sedentary occupation. The plaintiff argued these doctors should have taken into account the cognitive aspects of his job, but that argument was ultimately unpersuasive to the court.

Standard also reviewed plaintiff’s social media posts. The posts documented numerous physical activities that were inconsistent with severe pain, including limited home construction work and fishing. True, there is a difference between performing sporadic physical tasks and working 40 hours per week in a demanding job, but the court found there was enough of a contradiction between the activities depicted on social media and the subjective complaints of pain to make the posts relevant to the insurance company’s determination. Thus, using those social media posts was not arbitrary and capricious. The case is Wehner v. Standard Ins. Co., No. 2:18-CV-982, 2019 WL 6052639 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 15, 2019).