Fitbit and other similar personal fitness tracking devices help you stay in shape and keep track of important vital statistics. Can they also help you win a personal injury lawsuit? Recent examples of Fitbit device information being used in court suggests that in the future the data recorded by these devices will play an increasingly important role in the courtroom.
In what may be one of the first cases involving data from a Fitbit device, lawyers for an injured woman are hoping the data from her device can help them establish that she is less active than she was prior to her injury. The woman was a personal trainer before suffering a personal injury incident. Four years later, her lawyers are wanting to establish that but for the injury she suffered she would have led a much more active lifestyle. Using the data from the woman’s Fitbit (which did not exist at the time she was injured but which she has since obtained), her lawyers are using computer program to construct a “profile” of how active she is over the course of several months. Her lawyers hope that the data will support the woman’s claim that her injury has decreased her ability to be active.
If you regularly wear your Fitbit device, it may be able to provide you with helpful information in the event that you are injured in a personal injury accident. (Of course, to be of any real benefit, you would need to routinely wear your Fitbit.) As these devices remain on the market for several more years to come, the amount of data they can store as well as its accuracy will only improve. A Fitbit or similar exercise tracking device can help you:
The Fitbit and similar devices consist of new technology (at least “new” from a judicial perspective). Courts will likely be slow to accept evidence and data from Fitbit devices. Some of their concerns might be:
It is likely that expert witnesses will need to testify in several cases and address these concerns with worried courts before fitness trackers in injury cases are widely accepted.
Until Fitbits and similar devices are regularly referenced in court, personal injury victims should anticipate having to prove their lawsuits using eyewitness testimony, other evidence like photographs and diagrams, and expert witnesses (if necessary). At Ladah Law Firm, PLLC, we can assist you in locating and securing important evidence and we will develop a trial strategy designed to get you the most compensation possible. Contact us at (702) 252-0055 and schedule a free consultation to discuss your case with us.