The daughter of the Rev. Al Sharpton was warned by New York City lawyers to not delete social media posts showing her traveling around the world after suing the city for allegedly spraining her ankle in a fall on a Manhattan street.
The New Your City Law Department sent Dominique Sharpton a letter on Wednesday ordering her to preserve the entries on Instagram and Twitter,
The New York Post reported Saturday.
"The purpose of this letter is to demand that plaintiff preserve any photographs, documents, communications and any other information, both tangible and electronically stored, potentially relevant to her alleged trip and fall on Dec. 23, 2014," New York City lawyer Michele Fox wrote.
The letter was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court. Sharpton sued the city on May 7, saying that she sustained serious injuries from the December fall on an uneven street in Soho, the Post reports.
"This demand should be construed broadly to encompass materials related to plaintiff’s health, mobility, activity or physical limitations after the alleged incident," Fox wrote.
The city's letter came two days
after the Post disclosed that Sharpton, 28, who works for the National Action Network group founded by her father, had been traveling worldwide since taking the court action.
In the suit, in which Sharpton seeks $5 million from New York City, she alleged that she "still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries" from the fall, the Post reports.
A week after filing the suit, for instance, Sharpton said in an Instagram post, "We hiked UP the mountain, over the clouds . . . into the SUNRISE."
The post links to her Twitter account — and it shows Sharpton and a friend over the clouds.
Other entries show her in Taiwan and Indonesia.
In a post from Bali, Indonesia "three days ago," Sharpton said: "My house for the next few days. Surrounded by rice fields and Ubud jungle."
In her letter, Fox told Sharpton not to delete her "cameras (digital and non-digital) e-mails, text messages, cellular phones, tablets and any other device," the Post reports.
Sharpton’s Instagram and Twitter accounts were still active during a Newsmax check Saturday afternoon and the posts in question had not been removed.
John Elefterakis, who is representing Sharpton, told the Post that his client "has been forthcoming and transparent throughout this case with regard to her capabilities despite her pain.
"Ms. Sharpton does not require a letter to instruct her to save pictures which she has freely made available to the public," he said.
Personal injury experts told the Post that Sharpton could only end up getting $5,000 to $7,500 from the city if she won her case.