The novelty of this particular story will likely wear off in a few years, when our social media presence is used for more than just ranting and is fully integrated into our day-to-day lives — hell, we are more than halfway there already — but at the moment, this remains a unique story.
Picture this — you’re a personal injury attorney and your client has been hurt. First step is making sure all of the potential evidence is preserved, right? Well, what if your client was injured while riding an Uber, and you aren’t really sure where to send the spoliation letter?
We got this email from an Atlanta personal injury law firm, Butler Tobin. In the face of uncertain contact information, they put on their thinking caps and took to Twitter:
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[L]ike any good personal injury lawyers, the first thing we did once we got the case was send a spoliation letter. But to where? We started with the obvious places—Uber’s San Francisco headquarters, its registered agent in our home state of Georgia, and Uber’s “GreenLight Hub” (whatever that is) in Atlanta.
But in this day and age, sending electronically only makes sense—especially with a tech-savvy company like Uber.
But how do you email Uber? The company’s website didn’t offer much help. We couldn’t find a “contact us” page, and the website’s “help” page didn’t offer an email address, only a Twitter link . . .
So we tweeted our spoliation letter.
And because it’s Twitter, it’s available for everyone to enjoy:
@Uber_Support Our firm's client was badly hurt while riding in an Uber. Please preserve your electronic data! Link https://t.co/UnQ61VXdMK
— Butler Kahn (@Butler_Kahn) April 5, 2017
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Looks like the bots that mind Uber’s Twitter account were able — after a bit of prodding — to point the lawyers in the right direction. It isn’t everyday the social media actually makes a lawyer’s job easier.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).