Video related to the circumstances of an accident can be pivotal to your personal injury case in California. It may consist of recorded video from police body cameras, dashcams and cellphones. Included in this group is security camera footage.
Where Can You Find Footage of Your Accident?
Security camera footage, also known as surveillance footage, is video that has been recorded by a business, government entity or even a homeowner. The intent behind a security camera is to provide real-time access to what the camera shows, as well as have footage available for later review. If you have suffered an accident, you can look to surrounding homes and business for possible evidence on their security recordings.
Importantly, security camera footage can also show something outside of its intended focus that ends up helping a case. For example, surveillance footage may show a car hitting a bicyclist on the road in the corner of the screen when its focus was a home's driveway.
Requesting Security Camera Footage
You should take several steps when requesting surveillance footage pertaining to a personal injury claim. Security camera recordings are often erased at regular intervals, so it is important to act fast to obtain any possible evidence pertaining to your injury. This erasure can even occur in as fast as a few days.
Of course, you can always ask for surveillance footage yourself but note that some entities will be reluctant to oblige or may even outright deny your request. In those cases, a lawyer can request a subpoena from the court stating the footage is relevant and necessary to your case.
As for who may have security recordings that could potentially help your case, all residents and businesses in the immediate area should be considered. Meanwhile, the local government, whether that is the city, county, state or otherwise, may regularly record the street or other area where your accident took place.
What Kinds of Accidents Apply?
Any incident that resulted in a personal injury can apply to these circumstances. Examples include:
- car crashes
- bicycle accidents
- slip-and-fall accidents
- animal bites
- workplace machinery accidents
What is Premises Liability?
If your personal injury occurred on a property, you should know a safe environment must have been provided. Those premises should be maintained and any potential hazards that do exist should come with visible warnings or other safeguards. Potential issues include unleashed dogs, insufficient security and broken furniture. This is known as premises liability and means a property owner has a "duty of care" to maintain a safe environment and warn anyone who uses the property of potential hazards.
Related Liability
Also keep in mind the city or other local governmental entity can be sued for damages that resulted from circumstances which were under their control. For example, if a defective road condition caused this accident, the local government could be liable.
Meanwhile, if defective parts, such as defective brakes, played a significant role in a crash, the manufacturer or perhaps a car repair shop who had completed repairs could be found to be at fault.
Value of Security Camera Footage
If you or your lawyer are able to procure surveillance footage, you may be able to show proof of someone's negligence or of hazardous conditions that caused your injury. Also, if others are falsely claiming you were at fault, video evidence can show this was not the case.
That said, keep in mind that the same footage could be interpreted in different ways - i.e. your lawyer and the other side's lawyer may argue different points while looking at the same video. Also, numerous angles of the same incident may cause different conclusions to be made.
A benefit that many do not consider but should is that security cam footage may show potential witnesses, who could then be identified and contacted to help clear up the situation.
What if There is No Surveillance Footage?
You may still have a strong case even if there is no surveillance footage. Witness testimony can prove helpful as well as physical evidence of the scene and medical records detailing your injuries.
Also, if possible, make sure to take video and photos of the scene and of your injuries soon after the incident took place as this after-the-fact evidence could prove to be useful.
Statute of Limitations
Keep in mind the statute of limitations, which, in most cases, is two years from when the accident happened.
That said, the urgency to preserve security cam footage is much more significant since that usually gets recorded over or otherwise is no longer made available in much faster timeframes than that.
Authenticating the Video
Not only should you or your lawyer secure this security camera footage, but it is also important to establish its authenticity. More to the point, ensure that it has not been tampered with. One way to show this is by procuring and sharing an entire video recording from before the incident to after it ended, with no time gaps.
Also, the footage's entire physical journey from its originating source to, if necessary, the courtroom should be documented. Meanwhile, testimony from someone who was responsible for its recording or the obtaining of it may be necessary.
Keep in mind that all security footage must be obtained legally. That means it was either willingly given or was provided after a subpoena, or other legal order, required the recording’s owner to surrender it. In other words, privacy is also of utmost importance.
