How Do Surveillance Cameras Impact Slip and Fall Claims in Indiana?

Slip and fall accidents can happen in places with dozens of witnesses or zero witnesses. They also often require you to prove what the property owner knew and when, which can be difficult. Both of these issues and more are why surveillance and security camera footage are often incredibly helpful evidence in these claims.

In a slip and fall case, you have to prove when the danger arose, that the defendant had time to repair/warn about the danger, and that they failed to. Security camera footage can show the danger occurring, with timestamps, and help you prove that it should have been repaired. It also helps the jury see the accident itself and understand that it was not your fault.

For help with a slip and fall case, call the Indiana personal injury lawyers at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 today.

Evidence Surveillance Cameras Can Show in Slip and Fall Cases

Each of these is an essential element or helpful piece of proof in a slip and fall case – and each of them can come directly from security video.

How the Danger Arose

When suing for a slip and fall, one approach is to claim that the defendant created the dangerous condition in the first place. If a store clerk spilled something slippery on the floor, and the security video shows that, then the store can be responsible.

Alternatively, your claim is based on the fact that property owners need to keep the place safe for customers and guests, so they need to clean up or warn about dangers they knew about. You need to show when the danger was created to show they should have known about it and made warnings/repairs by the time you got hurt. Again, the video will show this if it has timestamps.

How Long the Dangerous Condition Was There

Sometimes your claim says that the property owner should have cleaned up or repaired a dangerous condition because they had plenty of time to discover it. If security video shows a spill happened days or hours earlier, a reasonable store should have cleared it up by then.

The longer the video shows the danger just sitting there, the better your argument is.

Whether the Property Owner Knew About the Danger

Instead of proving that the property owner should have known about the danger, you can prove that they actually did know about it. You can do this with internal communications, such as a text telling a clerk to mop up a spill. If security footage shows something like a customer pointing out a spill to a clerk, that is also great evidence that they knew of the danger.

If the video does not show us what they were saying, it might at least point us to the identity of a clerk or customer who can testify about what they knew and when they knew it.

How the Accident Happened

Security video might also show how you fell. This is incredibly helpful if

• There were no other witnesses around.
• How you actually fell is doubted or challenged.
• You were knocked out and don’t remember the fall.
• Seeing the accident happen helps show how serious the fall really was.

That it Wasn’t Your Fault

A common defense in slip and fall cases is to try to shift the blame to the victim. If the security video shows you being careful, avoiding distractions, and going about your day in a normal manner when you fell, this can help shut down any allegations that you were really responsible for your own injuries.

How to Get Surveillance or Security Video for an Injury Claim

Preserving and getting a copy of the video quickly is important if you want to use it as evidence in your case.

How Long Do Surveillance Cameras Save Video?

How long the video remains available all depends on the security system and its storage capacity. Some security systems have multiple angles of video, and storage requirements are quite large. This is likely to be overwritten more frequently to leave room for new footage, so you may need to get a copy within a few days of the accident.

Other systems have only one or two cameras – especially at a house or a small business. These might rely on subscription services that store video for up to 30 days, depending on the subscription.

In any case, you should act quickly, just in case the video is deleted or overwritten quickly.

Look for Cameras When You Get Hurt

After the accident, if you have the mental space to do so, look around for security cameras that might have caught your accident.

In a store, they are likely to be pointed at the door or products, and they are usually mounted high up to see over shelves. Outside, security videos might be on poles, on the corners of buildings, on ATMs, or near the doors of homes and businesses.

Send Letters Requesting Footage

If you noted the locations of any cameras that might be helpful, our Indianapolis personal injury lawyers can send letters or make calls to the camera owners to demand they keep a copy of the video.

At this time, we do not necessarily get our hands on the footage right away, but we put them on notice that we need the video for future litigation.

Subpoena Video in Court

Especially if the video is in the defendant’s hands, they might not want to turn it over right away. Instead, we can have the court subpoena it.

This gives us the force of a court order to have the owner turn over the footage, even if it is owned by a third party (e.g., the store across the street from where your accident happened). However, third parties are usually helpful and cooperative.

Consequences of Destroying/Deleting Footage

If the defendant knew about the pending litigation, we sent them a demand letter to preserve the video, and then they come to court saying it was deleted or lost, that is suspicious. We can’t very well use the evidence they deleted, but courts acknowledge that the video might be “lost” or deleted because it hurt their case.

In many cases, we can request that the judge tell the jury to assume the video would have cut against the party that destroyed it. We can also potentially request additional sanctions.

Call Our Indiana Personal Injury Lawyers Today

Call (219) 322-1166 for a free case review with the Gary, IN personal injury attorneys at Wruck Paupore today.