Most slip and fall cases are won or lost in the first few weeks after the incident. Not because liability magically appears or disappears, but because evidence does. Surveillance systems overwrite in a matter of days, employees clean or repair hazards, and routine practices march on. If you wait, the record that could have proven what happened will be gone. This is where a preservation letter, sometimes called a spoliation letter, earns its keep. It is a simple document with outsized impact, and an experienced slip and fall lawyer treats it as a first-week essential.
What a Preservation Letter Is, and What It Is Not
A preservation letter is a written notice to the property owner, manager, or another custodian of evidence instructing them to keep, and not destroy, specific items and data that may https://felixmwxd855.yousher.com/the-role-of-surveillance-footage-in-proving-fault-in-accidents be relevant to a claim. It does not force them to hand anything over that day. It does not substitute for subpoenas, discovery, or depositions. Think of it as pulling a handbrake on the natural course of deletion, disposal, or repair.
Courts expect parties to reasonably anticipate litigation and to preserve evidence once on notice. The letter provides that notice. If the defendant later “loses” the footage or discards the wet floor sign, a judge can impose sanctions, instruct the jury to draw an adverse inference, or limit defenses. The letter frames that accountability.
Why Timing Makes or Breaks the Case
I cannot count the times a client called me two weeks after a fall in a grocery store, certain the cameras caught everything, only to learn the system auto-deletes after seven days. Big-box retailers, multi-tenant buildings, and quick-serve restaurants often use rolling storage. Some keep 24 to 72 hours. Others keep more than 30 days. There is no universal rule.
The most precarious period is the first 48 to 72 hours. Incident reports get drafted, managers hold brief meetings, and crews clean or replace mats, cones, or signage. If you wait a month, you will fight over memories rather than documents. A slip & fall lawyer who is used to this rhythm sends a preservation letter within days, sometimes within hours, to freeze the record before it evaporates.
What Needs Preserving in a Slip and Fall
Every case has a different evidence heartbeat, but patterns repeat. The hazard itself, the conditions that led to it, and the business’s knowledge about those conditions are the three pillars. The letter should capture all three.
- Video and images: Exterior and interior camera footage, stills, and body-worn cameras if security uses them. Ask for a wide window, not just the fall. Thirty to sixty minutes before and after helps show how the hazard formed and how employees responded. Maintenance and inspection records: Floor cleaning logs, sweep sheets, mopping schedules, vendor work orders, mat exchange invoices, and spill response protocols. In multi-tenant buildings, include janitorial contractor communications. Incident documentation: Manager reports, witness statements, photographs taken by staff, internal emails about the incident, work comp filings if an employee was involved, and store-to-corporate notifications. Hazard sources: Product shrink wrap, pallet placement diagrams, refrigeration service records for leaks, weather logs, and snow and ice contracts for outdoor falls. If the fall occurred near a cooler, the service history matters more than most people think. Physical items: The torn mat, the broken handrail, the rolled carpet, the wet floor sign used that day, or the floor cleaner brand and dilution ratio. I once had a case turn on the wrong dilution noted on a spray bottle.
Every line item exists because of hard lessons. A slip and fall attorney gets in the habit of asking for what could seem peripheral. The trick is to identify what might explain how the hazard formed and whether the defendant knew, or should have known, it was there.
Anatomy of an Effective Preservation Letter
There is no magic incantation, but good letters share traits. They are specific, prompt, and sent to the right people. The tone is professional, not theatrical. Angry letters invite defensive handling. Precise letters get forwarded to risk management and legal departments that know exactly what to do.
Here is how I break down the content.
Recipient and delivery method. Address the legal entity that controls the premises, and any third parties with relevant custody, such as cleaning contractors or property management companies. Use multiple delivery channels. Certified mail with return receipt, email to the risk management inbox, and sometimes fax if the company still uses it. If the business has a registered agent, send a copy there.
Incident basics. Include the date, approximate time, location within the property, and a concise description of what happened. Specifics matter. “Slip near the front entrance on the tile floor adjacent to the produce misters” gives the reader an anchor.
Scope of preservation. Describe the categories of evidence, and call out time windows for footage. I ask for the two hours before and one hour after the fall for all relevant cameras, plus any exterior cameras that show ingress and egress if weather is in play.
Instruction and legal footing. You do not need to cite every spoliation case in your jurisdiction, but it helps to note that litigation is reasonably anticipated and that the recipient is on notice to preserve evidence. Keep it short, two to three sentences.
Point of contact and follow-up. Provide your contact information and ask the recipient to confirm steps taken to preserve evidence. Many risk managers will reply with an acknowledgment. If they do, keep that email. It becomes important later.
Reasonableness. Courts care about burden. If a property has 100 cameras, a demand to preserve all footage for 30 days may be overbroad. Tie your request to specific camera angles and time frames if you can. If you do not know the camera coverage, ask for a reasonable default window and offer to refine once you receive a camera map.
Where to Send It and Who Holds What
Getting the letter to the right hands matters as much as drafting it. In a small business, the owner or general manager is usually the right target, but always identify the legal entity. “Sunrise Market LLC, d/b/a Sunrise Grocery” is not the same as “Sunrise Grocery, Inc.” Check receipts, signage, or state business records. In malls or office complexes, property management firms hold camera footage, while the tenant controls incident reports. Hotels often have brand and franchise layers. Send to both.
If a third-party contractor cleans floors, they may hold sweep logs and supervisor notes. Ideally, you send separate letters to the contractor and the property owner. When snow and ice are involved, you need the plow contractor’s route sheets and salt application records. If you were hurt because a pallet jack hit you, the vendor or delivery company may own the relevant internal reports.
When multiple custodians exist, the slip & fall lawyer’s job is to chart that ecosystem early. Waiting for the defendant to volunteer the web of vendors is a recipe for gaps.
The Balance Between Narrow and Overbroad
A preservation letter can be too vague to help or too broad to be enforceable. Vague requests give the recipient the latitude to preserve the least helpful materials. Overbroad demands make you look unreasonable and may lead to noncompliance on the theory that you are asking for everything under the sun.
A narrow request might say “Store video of the fall.” Better is “All digital video surveillance capturing the front entrance vestibule, produce section, and adjacent aisle from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on March 3, including high, low, and PTZ cameras, saved in native format with metadata intact.” Too broad would be “All surveillance for the entire premises for the entire week.”
The right balance depends on what you know. If the client can point to the exact cooler that leaked, you can target your request tightly. If the client fainted and only remembers the general area, ask for a larger block, then narrow once the defendant confirms camera positions.
Common Missteps That Burn Evidence
I have seen mistakes from both sides. Plaintiffs assume “the store will keep it,” then call three months later. Defendants sometimes let internal routines run, and the most important hour gets taped over.
On the claimant’s side, the biggest misstep is delay. A second is failing to send the letter to all custodians. A third is omitting weather data in an outdoor fall. Local weather station data is not the same as on-site logs, and plow companies track timing and application. If you do not explicitly call for it, it may disappear in a routine records purge.
On the defense side, I have seen managers save only the fall moment, not the lead-up, then claim they preserved “the video.” Judges do not like half-measures. If the letter requested the lead-up and the manager only pulled a clip, courts can infer the rest would have been unfavorable. I have also seen repairs happen the next day without photographs. That can trigger sanctions if the letter arrived in time and gave notice.
Legal Backbone: Spoliation and Sanctions
Every jurisdiction handles spoliation differently, but the theme is consistent. Once a party reasonably anticipates litigation, it must take reasonable steps to preserve relevant evidence. Reasonableness depends on the burden and the clarity of what should be kept. Disputes later turn on who knew what, when, and what actions they took.
The remedies for spoliation range from mild to case-altering. A court can order additional discovery, require the party to pay fees, preclude certain defenses, or instruct the jury that it may assume destroyed evidence would have been unfavorable. The last one is powerful. Juries understand common sense: if you had good footage and lost it, maybe it did not help you.
This is why a slip and fall attorney treats the letter as leverage. It does not win the case by itself, but it shapes the evidentiary landscape. If you sent a detailed letter early, and the defense still failed to preserve, your path at trial improves.
How Preservation Letters Link to Liability Theories
Slip and fall cases hinge on notice. Did the property create the hazard, know about it, or should they have known? Evidence fills in those blanks.
Video shows duration. If a puddle sits for 25 minutes with employees walking past, a jury sees constructive notice. Sweep logs show frequency. A store that only sweeps every hour in a high-traffic produce section will have trouble explaining a slick floor. Maintenance records tie to causation. Poorly maintained coolers or a recurring roof leak speak to foreseeability. Incident reports capture immediate impressions that are often more candid than later testimony.
A strong preservation letter knits these threads by ensuring they exist for inspection. Without it, you argue from memory and general practices. With it, you argue from timestamps, signatures, and de-identified camera metadata that reveals if a clip was edited.
Practical Steps in the First Week After a Fall
Clients sometimes feel overwhelmed. Pain, medical visits, and missed work take priority. The legal steps do not have to be complicated, but they do have to be deliberate.
- Document what you can: Photos of the area, your shoes, your clothing, and any visible hazard. Note the exact location, time, and names or descriptions of employees who spoke to you. Get medical evaluation promptly: Delays get used against you. Tell providers exactly how the injury occurred. Your chart becomes part of the record. Preserve your own items: Keep the shoes you wore in a bag, do not wash them. If your clothing is wet or stained by a substance, air dry and store it. Contact a slip and fall lawyer quickly: The lawyer can send a preservation letter and identify other custodians. Time matters more than polish. Avoid public posts: Social media invites contextless snapshots that defense counsel will use. It adds nothing to your case and risks much.
Each of these steps aims at the same target, to keep the truth from getting overwritten by routine.
How Defendants Usually Respond
Large retailers and property managers typically route preservation letters to risk management and in-house counsel. Some send acknowledgment within days and place holds on their systems. Many have established litigation hold procedures that pause routine deletion for specified custodians and data sources. If the letter is clear, those procedures work.
Smaller businesses vary. A family-owned store may not have formal holds. Sometimes a manager saves a clip on a phone or USB drive, or scribbles notes in a logbook. The slip & fall lawyer’s follow-up becomes critical. A polite, specific check-in two weeks later can make the difference between intact evidence and “we meant to, but…”
Vendors add complexity. A janitorial contractor may believe the store is handling it. The store may believe the contractor owns the sweep logs. Both can be partially right and still lose data. This is why separate letters to each custodian help, and why copying both parties on relevant correspondence nudges coordination.
What If You Did Not Send a Letter in Time
All is not lost if the footage is gone. Other evidence still matters. Incident reports, eyewitness accounts, medical records, photographs, and expert inspections of the area can still prove notice and causation. Some systems archive thumbnails or motion logs even if the full video is gone. Maintenance and vendor records often live on a different retention schedule than surveillance. Weather data, police or EMS reports, and 911 call logs can fill gaps.
That said, your leverage drops. Judges and juries accept that routine deletion happens if no one asked for preservation. An experienced slip and fall lawyer will pivot to what is left and build the case around patterns and practice rather than a single clip. It can work, but it requires more testimony and the results are more variable.
Digital Details That Matter More Than You Think
Two technical points make their way into court more often than many expect. The first is metadata. Native video files often include creation timestamps, camera identifiers, and hash values. Requesting native format preserves those. If you only get a screen-recorded MP4, you lose a layer of integrity that can be critical if edits are suspected.
The second is chain of custody. If a manager copied video to a thumb drive, who held that drive, where was it stored, and who else accessed it? A clean chain reduces arguments about tampering. Your preservation letter can ask the recipient to document preservation steps and identify the person responsible for maintaining the evidence. It reads like overkill until a key minute goes missing. Then it looks prescient.
Weather, Ice, and the Outdoor Variant
Outdoor falls bring their own evidence set. Weather is not just temperature and precipitation from the nearest airport. On-site conditions vary with shade, traffic, and elevation. The snow contractor’s logs show when and how much salt was applied, blade height settings, and return visits. Property policies state whether they prioritize main entrances or sidewalks and how they verify completion.
Surveillance may capture plow trucks. Exterior cameras often have wider fields and longer retention because of lower frame rates. Incident timing can align with known refreeze periods, typically just before sunrise on clear, cold days after snow. A preservation letter that calls out these specifics will get better results than a generic note to “preserve video and records.”
Insurance Carriers and the Claims Process
Once a preservation letter lands, insurance adjusters often come into the picture. Carriers appreciate clear asks because they reduce later disputes. I have had adjusters ask for my preferred time windows and offer to produce camera maps under a protective agreement. Other times, they insist on a subpoena. Do not take resistance as refusal. A professional tone and a realistic scope often move the needle.
Carriers also set reserves based on early impressions. If the file shows that the insured preserved thorough footage and documentation, negotiation tends to be more grounded. If the file contains a letter they ignored, expect harder conversations later under the shadow of sanctions.
Costs, Burdens, and Good-Faith Compromises
On rare occasions, preserving data imposes real costs, particularly for older systems that require manual export. A museum I dealt with had a hybrid analog-digital system that could only export in real time. Three hours of footage took three hours to capture, and the cameras were many. We negotiated focal windows and staged preservation over several days. Courts look kindly on parties who meet in the middle.
If the recipient claims burden, ask them to explain it. Sometimes “burden” is code for inconvenience. Sometimes it is genuine. A slip and fall attorney should evaluate the trade-offs. Saving 90 minutes that includes a 15-minute pre-incident window will often answer the key questions without forcing a full-day export that never gets watched.
How Preservation Fits Into the Larger Case Timeline
The letter is step one in evidence control, not the end. After preservation, formal requests follow. Subpoenas, discovery demands, site inspections, and depositions translate the preserved items into admissible proof. Think of the letter as a life preserver. It keeps the evidence afloat long enough for the boat to arrive.
Strategically, I send the letter first, then request confirmation. If I do not hear back, I calendar a second, firmer reminder. If video windows are short, I may issue a subpoena immediately to reduce excuses. If the defense produces a limited clip, I compare timestamps to the original request. Missing windows become an issue for the court if they matter.
What Clients Often Ask, Answered With Experience
Am I required to send the letter to make a claim? No. You can pursue a claim without one. You just take on far more risk that key evidence goes away. The letter is not legally mandatory, but it is practically essential.
Will the store get mad and refuse to help? Sometimes managers bristle at legal language. Most large companies expect it. The letter protects them too. Preserving evidence gives their insurer a fighting chance to evaluate the claim fairly.
Should I ask for money in the letter? No. Keep preservation separate from negotiation. A demand letter comes later, after you understand the facts and your medical picture.
What if I slipped because of my own shoes? Footwear matters, but it rarely absolves the property of all responsibility. Keep the shoes and let an expert evaluate the tread. The preservation letter should still go out. Video will show whether others slipped and whether the floor looked wet or dull and deceptively dry.
Working With a Lawyer Who Understands the Drill
Anyone can print a template from the internet. The difference is in nuance. A slip and fall lawyer who has handled dozens of these knows which departments to include, how to phrase requests so a risk manager acts, and how to follow up without burning bridges. They also know the local judges’ tolerance for spoliation disputes and the remedies that play well in your jurisdiction.
Look for signs of that experience. Do they ask detailed questions about the exact aisle, the product displays, the color of the hazard, and the footwear you wore? Do they talk about preservation right away? Do they explain how your medical records and timeline intersect with what the cameras might show? Those are the hallmarks of someone who will protect your case from day one.
A Short, Plain-English Preservation Checklist
If you remember nothing else, remember the first week is everything. Name the right entities, move fast, and be specific. A measured, well-aimed preservation letter does not scream or threaten. It guides the recipient to do what the law expects. That simple act, done promptly and done well, keeps facts from fading and gives everyone, including the defense, a fair view of what really happened.
You should not have to memorize rules about metadata or hash values to protect your claim. That is the job of a professional. If you are dealing with the aftermath of a fall, focus on your health. A slip and fall attorney can shoulder the rest, starting with a letter that buys time against the quiet destroyer in these cases, ordinary routine.
A Final Word on Real-World Outcomes
When preservation goes right, cases resolve more predictably. I settled a supermarket case where the defense produced 65 minutes of clean footage. It showed a slow drip from a misting nozzle forming a thin film, employees walking past, and my client falling. No argument about whether the floor “looked” wet or whether a customer “must have” spilled something. The insurer paid a fair number without a lawsuit.
When preservation goes wrong, even good cases get messy. A warehouse store saved only a 20-second clip of the fall, nothing before. We litigated for two years over sweep practices and employee routes. We won, but it cost everyone far more.
That is the quiet power of a preservation letter. It does not shout. It simply keeps the record alive long enough for the truth to be seen. In slip and fall cases, that is often the difference between a fair result and a fight about shadows.