If you’re going to sue the city of New York for an ankle injury — it’s probably not a good idea to post pictures of yourself hiking on Instagram.
Dominique Sharpton learned that valuable lesson this week when city lawyers warned her not to delete Instagram photos from atop an Indonesian mountain — where she trekked while claiming in a lawsuit that she had “permanent” injuries.
“Her gallivanting around in high heels and climbing a mountain in Bali drastically diminish the value of her case because it clearly shows that her injuries are not severe, and as a result, she will not be paid or awarded any substantial amount of money by any rational jury,” said top Manhattan personal-injury lawyer Howard Hershenhorn.
The city Law Department sent Sharpton a letter telling her to preserve all of the damning evidence that she posted on her social media accounts. The picture above where she boasts that she and her friend, “hiked UP the mountain, over the clouds” was posted just a week after she filed the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
Now, the city plans to use her social media account as proof that the case is bogus and fraudulent.
“The purpose of this letter is to demand that plaintiff preserve any photographs, documents, communications and any other information, both tangible and electronically stored, potentially relevant to her alleged trip and fall on Dec. 23, 2014,” de Blasio administration lawyer Michele Fox wrote in a May 20 letter filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“This demand should be construed broadly to encompass materials related to plaintiff’s health, mobility, activity or physical limitations after the alleged incident.”
As of this weekend, Sharpton has followed the court order, leaving her Instagram and Twitter accounts active and full of incriminating pictures.