Evidence Spoliation in Personal Injury Cases: Preservation Rules and Sanctions

What Is Evidence Spoliation?

Spoliation is the destruction, alteration, or failure to preserve evidence that is relevant to pending or reasonably anticipated litigation. In personal injury cases, spoliation can derail a claim — or a defense — entirely.

Courts take evidence preservation seriously because a party that destroys evidence gains an unfair advantage. The legal system responds with sanctions designed to level the playing field.

When the Duty to Preserve Arises

The preservation duty begins when litigation is "reasonably anticipated" — not just when a lawsuit is actually filed. If you are injured in a car accident, your duty to preserve relevant evidence (photos, medical records, the vehicle) arises immediately. A business has the same duty once it knows or reasonably should know that a claim may follow.

This is why attorneys send "litigation hold" letters to defendants promptly after an injury. The letter formally puts the party on notice, establishing a clear start date for the preservation obligation.

Common Spoliation Scenarios

• A store overwrites security camera footage before the plaintiff can subpoena it
• A defendant destroys a defective product that caused the injury
• A driver's phone records are deleted after a distracted driving crash
• An employer discards maintenance logs for equipment involved in a workplace injury

Sanctions for Spoliation

Courts can impose a range of sanctions, calibrated to the severity of the destruction and the prejudice caused:

Adverse inference instruction. The jury is told it may presume the destroyed evidence would have been unfavorable to the party that destroyed it. This is among the most powerful sanctions in civil litigation.

Striking pleadings. In severe cases, the court may dismiss a defendant's answer or strike a plaintiff's complaint.

Default judgment. Reserved for the most egregious intentional destruction.

Monetary sanctions. Attorneys' fees and costs associated with addressing the spoliation.

Protecting Your Case

As a plaintiff, document everything immediately after an injury — photographs, witness contact information, physical items. If you believe a defendant controls critical evidence, your attorney should send a litigation hold letter within days of retaining you. Do not allow the other side's evidence to disappear without creating a record of your preservation demand.

If evidence has already been destroyed, an experienced attorney can investigate and pursue spoliation sanctions that may significantly strengthen your position.