Preventing Spoliation of Evidence

Post author By Dean@LegalNoodle.com
Post date December 30, 2020

This camera is focused on the interior of my apartment while also capturing foreground images of gardeners and maintenance workers while they are harassing me.

Retention and preservation of security camera video footage so that it is not deleted.

There is nothing worse for an evidence paralegal than to be assigned a lawsuit where the six-month old security camera footage has been automatically over ridden and deleted to make room for newly captured video. Attorneys can prevent this from happening by having a paralegal draft a pre-litigation letter demanding retention and preservation of security camera video footage as soon as possible. This puts the owner of a private video system on legal notice to not delete or destroy evidence.

If the camera is located at a nursing home or retirement community, then your issue becomes a federal jurisdiction. Independent living facilities and senior citizen housing are regulated by federal law. Federal evidence rules prohibit defendants from even thinking about deleting any type of electronic files. Therefore in United States District Court your prospective litigant is supposed to begin saving electronic evidence as soon as a dispute arises and procedurally you are not even required to send a demand letter. The point is that your letter can be very informal.

SPOLIATION MEANS SANCTIONS

Here is a sample letter for retention and preservation of security camera video that you are free to adapt to your own specific needs. Spoliation of evidence is the surest road to sanctions and so you need to put the fear of federal evidentiary and monetary sanctions into your prospective defendants.