Your watch knows how many steps you took yesterday. Your phone may know where you went. Strava might know exactly how far you cycled, how fast you moved and what route you followed.
If you are involved in a personal injury case in Ottawa or elsewhere in Ontario, that information may be more than an interesting record of your day. Digital fitness and location data can potentially become evidence in a personal injury claim.
What Can Your Devices Actually Reveal?
An Apple Watch, smartphone or fitness app can create a surprisingly detailed picture of someone’s activities.
Depending on the device and settings, the data may include step counts, walking and running distances, heart rate, workouts, GPS routes and changes in activity over time. Apple explains that Health data can be exported, while Strava allows users to export activity files containing information such as GPS coordinates, timestamps and heart-rate data.
This matters because personal injury cases often involve questions about what an injured person did before compared to what they are able to do after an accident.
In a recent blog post we discussed how wearables, smartphones and other smart technology are changing digital evidence in Ontario personal injury cases.
Could Fitness Data Help Prove an Injury?
Absolutely.
Imagine someone regularly walked 10,000 steps per day before a collision and after the accident, their activity drops to 2,000 steps per day and remains there for months.
That does not prove the severity of an injury by itself. But it may provide useful evidence when considered alongside medical records, testimony and other evidence about the person’s limitations.
The reverse is also possible. If someone reports being unable to walk significant distances, but their Strava account records repeated long hikes or runs, an insurer may argue that the digital evidence conflicts with their reported limitations.
That is similar to traditional surveillance. As we explain in our discussion of surveillance in Ontario personal injury claims, insurers may look for evidence that appears inconsistent with what a claimant says they can and cannot do.
What About Google Maps Location Data?
Location data can raise a different set of questions.
Google Maps Timeline, when enabled, may retain information about places visited and routes travelled. Google has also provided users with ways to export Timeline information.
In the right case, location information could potentially help establish where someone was, how frequently they travelled or whether they attended a particular location.
Digital location evidence is not entirely new territory. Cell phone records have long raised similar issues in accident litigation, including questions about whether they may help establish what happened before a collision. We previously examined this issue in Are Cell Phone Records Necessary to Prove Fault?.
Can the Other Side Demand Your Apple Watch or Strava Data?
Potentially – but relevance matters.
Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure require parties in a lawsuit to disclose documents relevant to matters in issue. In litigation today, a “document” can extend well beyond a piece of paper.
That does not mean an insurer automatically gets unlimited access to someone’s phone, Apple Watch or complete digital life.
The real questions are whether the information is relevant, whether it is within a party’s possession, control or power, and whether the scope of the request is appropriate. Privacy, proportionality, reliability and authentication may all become important depending on the circumstances.
Should You Delete Fitness or Location Data After an Accident?
Deleting potentially relevant information after litigation is underway or reasonably anticipated can create a much bigger problem than the data itself.
A better approach is to preserve potentially relevant information and discuss how it should be handled with your lawyer. Screenshots can also be incomplete. Original exported files may contain timestamps, GPS coordinates or other information that is not visible on the screen.
Your Digital Footprint May Tell Part of the Story
Google Maps, Strava and Apple Watch data will rarely decide a personal injury case on their own. But combined with medical evidence, witness testimony and other records, they can provide another window into what life looked like before and after an injury.
The practical takeaway is simple: treat fitness and location data as potential evidence. Preserve it, do not manipulate it, and remember that a single step count or workout never tells the whole story.
If you have questions about a personal injury claim in Ottawa or elsewhere in Eastern Ontario, the team at Bergeron Clifford Injury Lawyers is pleased to help. You can schedule a free consultation today.
