Post Accident Surveillance (2024)

Can your insurance claim be under surveillance?

If you have recently been injured in a car accident, it is natural that you will file a claim with your insurance company to get compensation not only for the damage to your car but more importantly for potential medical expenses. Surely, you expect your insurer to handle your claim and pay out the compensation as quickly as possible. However, the insurance firm has the right to investigate the case, examine the circ*mstances of the accident and verify the extent of your injuries before it decides whether to accept or deny the claim. Although it may come as a surprise to you, it is lawful for insurance companies to hire a private investigator to perform various forms of surveillance and data-gathering on you. It is vital to recognize that the insurer is not under the obligation to inform you that such measures are being undertaken. Surveillance may be placed regardless of the value of the claim although, logically, such actions must be cost-effective; thus, the higher the claim, the more likely it is that the insurance company will hire a private investigator.

Of course, privacy is a very sensitive issue, so the thought of being a subject of such an investigation may feel uncomfortable or even distressing, especially taking into consideration how private investigators – and the lengths they are willing to go to – are presented in popular films or TV series. Therefore, it is vital that you be thoroughly informed of your rights as well as the legal limits on the work of private investigators. What can post-accident surveillance include? Are there limits to the types of information a private investigator may obtain? How can you best respond if you suspect that your accident case is under surveillance?

The limits – what PIs cannot do

As many private investigators and surveillance companies are quick to admit, whatever action they perform as a part of their work must remain within the strict limits of the law. Thus, how the media usually portray private investigators is often inaccurate. For example, PIs cannot trespass on private property; neither can they obtain access to protected information such as financial, criminal, or telephone records, or credit information. Similarly, it is illegal for a private investigator to wiretap a phone – unless they have the consent of one or both individuals involved. In addition, conversations that occur in a private setting may not be recorded without consent.

Another limitation imposed on the work of a private investigator is an explicit ban on a practice called pretexting. It refers to obtaining restricted information about an individual or a company using a pretext or deceit. A somewhat striking example of this technique was revealed to the public in 2006 in connection to the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal. Back then, the media reported that private telephone records of some HP officials and their families were obtained by investigators who made phone calls to telephone companies impersonating the individuals under surveillance. Practices such as this and similar ones are punishable in the US as common law crimes of false pretenses under the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999.

What can you expect?

Despite the restrictions, private investigators do have at their disposal several legal surveillance methods and techniques. Recording video, taking photographs of the subject and making audio recordings are all permissible as long as they occur in a public setting. Regardless of whether the subject considers their conversation to be private, if it occurs in a setting where it could be overheard by a third party, a PI in within his rights to record that conversation. This means that if a person’s job is done in a public area, it can be recorded. Insurance companies are not allowed to hire investigators to record any activities that an injured person performs in his or her home, or at his or her own property.

How should you react?

If you have recently filed an insurance claim and you suspect that your insurer may have hired a private investigator to perform surveillance on you, what should you do? Unless you have evidence that the PI is engaging in illegal activities, it is not advisable that you impede their work. While it may be uncomfortable to feel that you are being tailed and watched, approaching an investigator is inadvisable. You may, however, try to gather as much information about the surveillance as you can and report it to your legal representative. Of course, you should avoid performing any action that may weaken your insurance claim. This means that you should strictly follow your doctor’s orders and recommendations. Do not exaggerate your injuries for the sake of potential recordings. While it may have been the intention of the insurance company to use a private investigator to gather evidence that would weaken or even disprove your claim, this same evidence may also be used by your skillful lawyer to prove your injury and to help your case. For example, a video presented as evidence for the lack of a claimed disability may have been unfairly edited and a cross-examination of the private investigator who presented such evidence can show the bias.

Above all it is important to remember that if you have been honest with your attorney and your claim is strong, a private investigator is unlikely to produce any compromising evidence. Of course prudent and cautious behavior is always advisable; nevertheless, if you know your rights and the limitations that the law places on private investigators, then their work need not worry you.

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