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Slip-and-fall accidents can happen anywhere, from grocery stores to workplaces. Proving liability is critical to securing fair compensation. This is where surveillance footage becomes incredibly crucial. With surveillance cameras virtually everywhere these days, there is a good chance your slip-and-fall accident was captured on video. If your accident was caught on camera, the footage can break or make your case. Below, we discuss how surveillance footage can impact your SC slip-and-fall case.
Obtaining Surveillance Footage for Your Case
Surveillance footage is one of the most powerful types of evidence for proving your slip-and-fall case, but it is not always easy to obtain. Additionally, some cameras overwrite recordings in as short as a few days or weeks, so securing it as soon as possible is critical, or it could be lost forever.
Unfortunately, obtaining surveillance footage as a private citizen may be challenging. However, your attorney can help you obtain it by sending what’s known as a spoliation letter to the property or business owner. This letter requests that any relevant footage be preserved and provided for review while also placing the management on legal notice that destroying or tampering with the footage could have legal consequences.
When obtaining surveillance footage, it is important to remember that it must meet the legal standards to be used in court. For instance, it must be relevant to your case, unaltered, and lawfully obtained. It is best to work with a lawyer to ensure that all these boxes are checked so the footage proves helpful in your case.
How Surveillance Footage Can Impact Your Slip and Fall Claim
Below are four ways surveillance footage can impact your case:
- Establishing the Sequence of Events
Surveillance footage can help reconstruct the exact timeline of the moments leading up to your fall and what happened afterward. This may involve analyzing any hazardous conditions, the availability of warning signs, and the immediate aftermath of the fall.
- Validating the Severity of Your Injuries
Surveillance footage can also help shut down any arguments claiming that your injuries are not as severe as you say. For instance, if you struggled to stand and someone had to help you up, this can validate your injuries and strengthen your case when seeking compensation.
- Proving Negligence
For a successful slip-and-fall case in South Carolina, you must demonstrate the property owner’s negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. Surveillance footage can provide undeniable proof of negligence, such as an ignored spill on the floor, a lack of warning signs, or a dangerous condition that could have been prevented.
- Faster Case Resolution
Clear evidence from surveillance footage can help you resolve your compensation claim much faster. Insurance companies may prefer to settle the claim instead of dragging it to court when the evidence is clear. As such, you could recover your settlement faster, saving you time and energy.
On the flip side, if the footage does not support your claim, it could significantly weaken your case. As such, it is best to engage an experienced slip-and-fall lawyer so that they can assess the video’s impact on your case and build a strategy around it.
A Slip & Fall Lawyer Can Help
If you or a loved one have been injured in a slip and fall accident, contact our skilled slip & fall attorney at Gus Anastopoulo Law Firm to help you obtain footage, prove negligence, and fight for the compensation you deserve.
Source:
law.cornell.edu/wex/preponderance_of_the_evidence