Setareh Law
December 4, 2025
Insurance companies hire private investigators to follow injury victims, film their daily activities, and compile evidence they hope will undermine legitimate claims. The moment you file a personal injury claim, you may become the target of surveillance designed to catch you in moments that appear inconsistent with your reported injuries, even when your actions fall within your medical restrictions.
Understanding when surveillance crosses legal lines and how to protect yourself helps you avoid giving insurance companies ammunition to devalue or deny your rightful compensation. At Setareh Law, we prepare our clients for potential surveillance and fight back when insurance companies use misleading footage to attack valid claims.
Why Insurance Companies Use Surveillance
Insurance companies deploy surveillance to reduce claim payouts by finding footage they can use to question injury severity. If you claim a back injury prevents you from lifting heavy objects, but surveillance catches you carrying groceries into your house, the insurance company will argue you exaggerated your limitations. They don’t care that your doctor approved light household activities or that you suffered for hours after that brief errand.
The financial motivation drives aggressive surveillance tactics. A car accident case worth $200,000 becomes worth $50,000 if the insurer can convince a jury you’re not as injured as you claim. Insurance companies particularly target high-value claims, cases involving soft tissue injuries that are harder to prove objectively, and situations where claimants report disabilities that significantly limit daily activities. If your claim checks any of these boxes, expect surveillance.
What Surveillance Looks Like
Private investigators use various methods to document your activities. Physical surveillance involves following you in vehicles, filming you from public locations, and documenting your movements throughout the day. They photograph you at the grocery store, record you walking to your car, and capture video of you doing yard work or playing with your children. Modern technology adds another layer through social media monitoring, where investigators scour Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms for photos, videos, check-ins, and posts that might contradict your injury claims.
Investigators sometimes use more aggressive tactics. They may film inside your property using zoom lenses, conduct interviews with neighbors or acquaintances, and even pose as service providers or delivery personnel to get closer access. Some investigators follow claimants to medical appointments, document their activities at physical therapy, and record interactions with family members to build a comprehensive picture of daily capabilities.
Legal Limits on Insurance Surveillance
California law protects injury victims from certain surveillance tactics while allowing others. Investigators can legally film you in public places where you have no reasonable expectation of privacy, record your activities visible from public streets or sidewalks, monitor your public social media posts and photos, and follow you in public locations without your knowledge. These activities, while invasive, don’t violate your privacy rights under current law.
However, surveillance crosses into illegal territory when investigators trespass on private property to obtain footage, use recording devices to capture conversations without consent, harass or threaten you during surveillance activities, or intrude into areas where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy. For example, filming through your bedroom window from a public street may be legal, but climbing onto your property to get that footage violates trespassing laws. Similarly, recording your conversations at a restaurant without your knowledge violates California’s two-party consent law for audio recordings.
How Surveillance Affects Your Claim
Insurance companies present surveillance footage in the worst possible light. A five-minute video of you washing your car becomes evidence you’re not disabled, despite the fact you spent the next three days in bed recovering from the exertion. The insurer won’t show the jury the hours before or after the activity, won’t mention that your doctor approved light activities, and won’t acknowledge that one good day doesn’t negate months of legitimate suffering after your truck accident.
Context matters tremendously in evaluating surveillance footage. Most injured people have good days and bad days, activities they can perform with modification or pain, and moments where they push through discomfort to accomplish necessary tasks. Surveillance rarely captures this nuance. The footage shows action, not the pain that follows. It shows capability in a moment, not the limitations that define your daily reality. Insurance companies exploit this gap between what surveillance shows and what your actual experience entails.
Protecting Yourself From Surveillance Tactics
You can’t prevent surveillance, but you can minimize its impact on your claim. First, remain consistent in describing your injuries and limitations. Don’t claim you’re bedridden if you’re capable of grocery shopping, even if shopping causes significant pain. Accurate reporting prevents surveillance from catching you in apparent contradictions. Second, follow your doctor’s activity restrictions precisely. If your physician says you can lift ten pounds occasionally, don’t lift fifty pounds even once. That single instance on camera will define your case.
Third, be mindful of social media activity. Set all accounts to private, avoid posting photos or videos showing physical activities, think carefully before checking in at locations or events, and remember that friends can share or tag you in posts. A friend’s birthday party photo showing you smiling and standing becomes evidence you’re not experiencing chronic pain, even though you left early and spent the next day recovering. Fourth, document your own activities. If surveillance captures you doing something that might appear inconsistent with your injuries, immediately tell your attorney, explain the circumstances and any pain or limitations you experienced, and document the aftermath if the activity caused increased symptoms.
Get Help Protecting Your Claim From Surveillance Tactics With Setareh Law
Insurance surveillance aims to intimidate injury victims and create doubt about legitimate claims. The personal injury attorneys at Setareh Law have recovered over $250 million for California accident victims despite aggressive surveillance and investigation tactics. Our 60 years of combined experience includes challenging misleading surveillance footage, providing context for activities captured on camera, and proving the true extent of our clients’ injuries regardless of what brief surveillance clips might suggest.
We handle all personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your injuries. If you’re concerned about surveillance, have already been approached by investigators, or need guidance on how to protect your motorcycle accident claim from surveillance tactics, we can help. Contact us today for a free consultation about protecting your privacy rights while pursuing the compensation you deserve.
