Indiana Federal Court Remarks Upon Social Media Evidence Authentication
As you know, we here at Abnormal Use often remark upon social media evidence in litigation and attempts to authenticate such evidence in an employment discrimination case.
Here are some thoughts from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on social media evidence authentication:
These exhibits purport to be Facebook conversations between Plaintiff and [the defendant’s former] employees in support of her reduction in force allegations. She appears to have re-typed the conversations on clean sheets of paper and submitted them as her evidence. There is no documentation from Facebook detailing these conversations or any other indicia of reliability; consequently, the exhibits are unreliable and will not be considered.
See Maddox v. Meridian Sec. Ins. Co., No. 1:13–cv–01551–RLY–DML (S.D. Ind. June 30, 2015).
Ouch. As you might suspect, the Plaintiff was pro se.
