Getting the damages you need after an injury often requires hard evidence of what happened. While your testimony and other eyewitness testimony are important, your case is that much more believable if objective evidence backs up your story. Video is often the best objective evidence there is.
Surveillance footage from doorbell cameras, security cameras, and other cameras can be used to help you with your claim. This provides evidence the jury can see – and potentially hear – for themselves to make a decision about what happened and who was at fault. It’s not always perfect evidence, but it can be extremely helpful.
Call Schoenfeld Law Firm’s Lafayette, LA personal injury attorneys at (504) 688-7760 for a free case evaluation.
Is Surveillance or Security Footage Admissible Evidence?
Security video is often some of the best evidence there is of what happened in your case, and it can be used to explain the events to the jury, show positioning, and provide a neutral account of what happened. Introducing it requires meeting a few hurdles first.
Collecting Evidence Properly
First, the video needs to be obtained and stored in proper ways to trace it from the original camera, ensure it hasn’t been tampered with, etc. This is why you should have your Louisiana personal injury lawyers be the ones to obtain the video instead of trying to get a hold of it yourself.
Relevance
Evidence has to be “relevant” to be admitted at trial. This means that you have to show it tends to prove or disprove something important to the case at hand.
For example, the video usually has to actually show the accident and what happened, or at least show who was present at the accident, to be relevant. However, video can be relevant for other issues, such as showing a defendant stumbling out of a bar minutes before a DUI accident.
Accuracy
The video must be an accurate representation of what happened for the court to admit it. If the video was tampered with or heavily doctored, it cannot be admitted.
Pros and Cons of Using Surveillance Video in an Injury Claim
While video evidence is often great, it can have its cons as well.
Pros
- Video doesn’t lie; the jury gets an accurate, neutral view of the accident.
- If you had no witnesses, video might be the only thing to corroborate your story.
- If you were knocked out, the video can show details you don’t even remember.
- Clear, irrefutable evidence can make cases settle more quickly.
Cons
- Bad camera angles might make what happened more confusing.
- Blurry or grainy video might be unhelpful or confusing.
- The camera might not catch what you saw, so it doesn’t help corroborate your story.
- If your story doesn’t obviously match the video, it seems like you lied.
- Video from before/after the accident might paint you in a bad light, e.g., if you were drunk or yelling/arguing before the accident.
FAQs for Using Surveillance and Security Video in an Injury Case in Louisiana
Does it Matter Who Recorded the Footage?
Not usually. You can use your video or someone else’s video as evidence, as long as it is relevant and accurately depicts the events. It doesn’t matter if it came from the store where the accident happened or from another store across the street that was completely unrelated to the case.
In fact, video from a neutral third party is often better evidence.
How Can I Demand Video from Someone Else?
Our lawyers can send letters to the owner of a camera demanding that they preserve the video for trial. We can also use the court’s subpoena power to demand that they bring it into court if they refuse to cooperate, e.g., if the video belongs to the defendant.
What if the Defendant Deleted or Overwrote Their Video?
If the defendant was the one who owned the camera, and their footage of the accident went missing, we may be able to use that against them. If they were on notice that the evidence would be requested in a lawsuit, then they deleted it or allowed it to be lost, we can take a few potential steps.
First, we can potentially get them to submit their hard drives to investigation to see if we can recover the video. Then, if we can’t, we can ask the judge to declare it “spoliation” (evidence destruction) and potentially get sanctions against them.
This can involve additional monetary sanctions or potentially an instruction to the jury to assume that the missing video would have cut against the defendant.
Can You Record and Use Audio Recordings?
In many states, recording a conversation without consent from one or all parties on the recording is illegal. This is true even in public places where taking pictures or video might be completely okay.
Louisiana is a one-party consent state, meaning that recording a conversation is okay as long as one person in the conversation consents to being recorded. If at least one person recorded in the video knew they were being recorded ahead of time – e.g., because they owned the camera or because there were signs posted nearby – then recording and using the audio should be okay.
Even if we can’t use the audio because it was recorded without consent, we may be able to use the muted video on its own. If there is no conversation or talking recorded (e.g., it’s just the sounds of a crash), this shouldn’t even be an issue.
Can I Submit Edited Video as Evidence?
Often, the entire video being recorded on a surveillance camera is not necessary. In fact, evidence from well before or well after the accident wouldn’t even be relevant. Because of this, the video often has to be edited.
If we edit out too much video, the defense might be able to demand we put it back in if there is something relevant – e.g., if the video showed a victim limping on the way into the store before their alleged slip and fall happened.
We may also be able to slow down, pause, fast-forward, take still images, and add circles or arrows to the video. Some enhancements might also be allowed, but it might require hiring experts to explain how they altered/enhanced the video or audio.
We cannot edit the video in misleading ways and may have to explain all edits to the jury.
Call Our Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyers Today
For help with your case, call Schoenfeld Law Firm’s New Orleans, LA personal injury lawyers at (504) 688-7760.
