As cameras become more common, so does the use of video evidence in criminal and civil cases of all types. Surveillance footage makes effective evidence in personal injury and car accident cases. This is especially true when insurance companies argue the facts of your case to save money.
But the law doesn’t force businesses and private individuals to just hand over their camera footage.
Tracking down who’s responsible for video footage can be tricky. It’s even harder without the help of a seasoned car accident lawyer. We’ve had more than a few car accident victims ask us just how to get a subpoena for video surveillance footage after their accident.
How To Get a Subpoena for Video Surveillance After An Accident — Key Takeaways
- Getting a subpoena for video surveillance footage after a car accident starts with filing a motion with the court. You’ll have to show why the footage is relevant and helpful to your case.
- Sources of video surveillance footage that may help a car accident case vary. They include private businesses, police departments, government agencies, and private homeowners.
- In some cases, camera owners fail to provide footage to you in person. We suggest hiring an experienced car accident lawyer to help you file a subpoena. A subpoena is a court order requiring the source to provide their surveillance footage.
This article will detail how to request traffic camera footage or any other video surveillance footage from the camera owner.
We’ll also explain how to get a court order or subpoena for video footage after a car accident.
Finally, we’ll explore the benefits of a free consultation with a seasoned car accident lawyer. We’ll examine how they can help prove your case with video evidence.
John (Jack) Zinda
Founder / CEO
Over 100 years of combined experience representing injured victims across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationHow Do I Get a Subpoena for Video Footage After a Car Accident?
To get a subpoena for video footage that may support your car accident claim, you must first file a lawsuit against the other driver. If the case goes to trial, your car accident lawyer will make the courts aware of any surveillance footage that’s relevant to your case.
A subpoena is a court order sent to the camera’s owner. It requires them to turn over electronic records, such as surveillance video recordings.
But do you need a subpoena to ask for video footage from the camera’s owner? The answer is: not always. You don’t need a court order to get video footage if the camera owner willingly gives it to you, even if you’ve filed a lawsuit.
Let’s look at the various ways of getting video footage after a car accident. They include filing a lawsuit and obtaining a subpoena for surveillance video. An experienced car accident lawyer can cover all these in more detail during your attorney consultation.
Find out who owns the camera
The first step to getting a subpoena for video surveillance after an accident is to find out who owns the camera. You’ll also need to know where they store the recordings.
The easiest way to figure out who to contact is to consider where the camera was located.
- If the camera was a dash cam in someone’s car or a personal security camera outside someone’s house, you’re likely looking for a private individual.
- If the accident took place in a parking lot or in front of a store or business, the “operator” in charge of the camera is probably the manager or business owner.
- Government agencies typically own traffic cameras.
- The police department is responsible for police car cams and body cameras.
Send a preservation letter — Act quickly
When requesting a subpoena for surveillance video footage, it’s crucial to act fast. Security camera footage is often overwritten/deleted on a regular basis, and you might have as little as 24 hours before that happens. Once you’ve figured out who owns the footage, formally ask them not to delete it with what we call a preservation letter.
A preservation letter typically includes the following information:
- The names and contact details of all parties involved in the accident.
- When and where the accident took place.
- A description of what the video footage you’re seeking may contain.
- A formal request to preserve or save a specific timeframe of video footage based on the time of the accident.
- A request not to delete, destroy, or change any video footage relevant to the incident.
File a police report
We suggest filing a police report, which includes your statement on how a collision happened. When filing your car accident police report, include the details about all surveillance cameras in the footage. We recommend asking the police for a copy of any surveillance footage of the incident they found during their investigation.
If the accident involved a crime, such as D.W.I. or Fleeing the Scene, the police are more likely to track down the footage. Police can often ask camera owners for footage instead of filing a subpoena, as a police request tends to carry more weight.
Hire an experienced car accident lawyer
We suggest hiring a seasoned car accident lawyer as early in this process as possible. The legal process of recovering your damages is long, complicated, and challenging to navigate while you’re still healing. Insurance companies will use anything they can against you to get out of paying a settlement. They may even use statements you made to the camera owners or in your letter of preservation against you.
An experienced attorney can guide you through every step of this process. At Zinda Law Group, we can even help file an insurance claim and issue letters of preservation. A car accident lawyer can help file a police report and a lawsuit and show you how to get a subpoena for surveillance footage after a car accident.
File a lawsuit
Once you have a good lawyer on your side, you can get a subpoena for for video footage by filing a lawsuit. The court can force the business, individual, or government agency responsible to turn the footage over to the court.
During the discovery phase of your court case, your lawyer will receive a copy of the footage for the two of you to review.
Neil Solomon
Partner
Real results matter. We do not get paid unless we win your case.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationThe Process of Getting a Subpoena for Video Footage After a Car Accident
The first step towards getting video footage of an accident is filing the proper forms with the court when you file for your lawsuit. Be as specific as possible about the camera’s location and the footage’s timeframe.
An experienced car accident lawyer can help fill out the subpoena and file it for you. The next step is submitting your subpoena to the court clerk. Once the judge signs the submitted subpoena, it’s delivered by a neutral party, such as a process server.
Once the subpoena has been served to the person or business who owns the camera, they’ll either send the footage to the court, object to the subpoena, or ask for more time.
Can stores show you security footage?
A store can show you the security footage if they want. Still, they’re under no legal obligation to do so unless the court orders them to.
Once the court subpoenaes security camera footage, the insurance company’s lawyers will also have the right to watch it.
How to get street camera footage
If street traffic cameras recorded your car accident, the state or local government owning the cameras may have a legal duty to turn the footage over to the public.
Figuring out which agency handles the camera that recorded your collision can be complicated and time-consuming to do on your own. And once again, insurance companies will use the footage against you if they can.
Let’s take a look at how a seasoned car accident lawyer can help prove your car accident case with video footage.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
Standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to answer in your time of need.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationAn Experienced Car Accident Lawyer Can Help You Prove Your Car Accident Case with Video Surveillance Footage
Once you’ve gotten surveillance footage of your car accident, you’ll have to prove you got the footage lawfully. A lawyer can help you prove it’s appropriate to the case and allowed in court.
A seasoned car accident lawyer from Zinda Law Group can help you confirm the helpfulness and authenticity of the footage to the court. We’ll also coach you on whether the video footage helps your case and what dirty tricks you can expect the insurance companies to pull once they’ve seen it.
That said, surveillance camera footage can be valuable for proving your case if a seasoned car accident lawyer handles it.
Our team at Zinda Law Group is familiar with the complex process of recovering surveillance video footage after a car accident.
We also know the insurance companies’ game and how to play it. Contact us today for a free attorney consultation, and we can review the process in detail. We offer a no-win, no-fee guarantee with no cost to you unless we win.
Let Zinda Law Group help you recover the surveillance footage that proves your case and use it to get the settlement you deserve.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
We have successfully represented clients in a wide variety of cases across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free Consultation
