Personal injury suits often hinge upon proving the extent of an injury and the degree to which the plaintiff’s life is impacted by their injury or injuries. In a world where technology is used to document our every move, evidence is turning up in more and more places.

In a Calgary personal injury case last year, a fitness-tracking bracelet was used to demonstrate the reduced activity level of a plaintiff following injuries.

This opens the door for both plaintiffs and defendants to present evidence from “wearable tech”—typically, computer devices with wireless communication capabilities that can be worn on the body, such as the infamous Google Glass eyewear and the new Apple Watch—and possibly even to compel companies to release information from these devices at the request of the court.

Social media companies like Facebook and Instagram have already been required to disclose certain user data and activity in a variety of personal injury lawsuits and other cases before the Calgary courts. Such evidence has been used by plaintiffs to demonstrate injuries and lifestyle changes, and has also been used by personal injury defendants and insurance companies in an attempt to disprove injuries or impacts on activity and quality of life.

Wearable tech promises an even larger store of data, and like social media content this will likely cut both ways when it comes to personal injury lawsuits in Calgary.

From computers and dash cams in cars to fitness bracelets around people’s wrists, tech measures everything these days. The effect of all this data on the legal world continue to evolve.