Preserving Evidence: The Bedrock of Personal Injury Law

Last Updated on 12 March 2026

Evidence is the probative bedrock of judicial proceedings, ensuring the constitutional integrity of legal proceedings. Monetarily speaking, a lack of evidence typically results in lower settlement costs, which could hinder plaintiffs’ ability to afford medical bills arising from the disputed injury.

Why Is Preserving Evidence Vital to Personal Injury Lawsuits?

Essentially, preserving evidence is the act of maintaining materials, objects, and data for litigation.

At their core, lawsuits are debates over facts. Each side uses the facts differently to craft a story that supports their argument. As such, without facts – without evidence – lawsuits become moot.

Preserving evidence is also important because it supports constitutional due process parameters. In other words, if evidence isn’t properly preserved, defendants can’t properly challenge findings, robbing them of the right to a fair trial.

Maintaining evidence also ensures that cases can proceed. Without it, plaintiffs risk having their suits dismissed for lack of evidence.

What Counts as Hard Evidence

“Hard evidence” can be described as any tangible entity used in the process of litigation that helps support an argument. In personal injury and criminal lawsuits, evidence typically includes, but is not limited to:

Logs
Medical records
Video and audio recordings
Social media posts
Pictures
Objects from the scene of the crime or injury
Digital data and computing devices
Phone records
Vehicle computers

What about witnesses? Can they be considered evidence?

While witnesses play a crucial role in many lawsuits, they’re not 100% reliable. They can change their mind and opt not to testify at the last minute. They may also recant their stories. In some cases, witnesses may be blocked from testifying for various reasons.

Simply stated: Your chances of winning personal injury lawsuits dramatically increase if you have copious amounts of physical evidence that can be admitted to the court.

The Standards of Evidence Preservation

Not all evidence is created equal, nor is there a guarantee that it will be usable at trial. A key component of winning claims is ensuring that proof can be admitted to the court and considered during deliberations.

Ultimately, tangible evidence must be collected and maintained lawfully. In legal terms, it’s called the chain of custody, which simply refers to the people who have handled the evidence and the places it has been stored.

Common Reasons for Not Protecting Evidence

What are common reasons that evidence gets thrown out? If something was obtained by theft or other means that violate jurisdictional privacy standards, don’t count on being able to use it in court.

Failure to implement special storage requirements can result in data that deteriorates, rendering it useless.

What are the most common reasons that evidence gets destroyed?

Bad faith actions
Negligence
Improper storage
Administrative failures

When trying a case, the plaintiff’s burden of proof requires establishing duty, breach, causation, and damages. In other words, the party bringing the case must demonstrate that:

The defendant had a legal responsibility to prevent a given outcome.
The defendant’s actions didn’t comply with their legal responsibility.
The injury was a result of the defendant’s lack of compliance.
The plaintiff was damaged as a result.

Case Studies: Personal Injury Lawsuits Affected by Lack of Evidence

Here’s a short list of lawsuits where evidence, or lack thereof, had a significant impact on the outcome.

United Medical Supply Co. v. United States

In this landmark case, United Medical Supply Company sued the United States Coast Guard over a contract dispute. The crux of the case was whether government employees were wrong to dispose of vital case documents.

The United States Court of Federal Claims ruled that Coast Guard officials demonstrated “reckless disregard” of the evidence and ultimately saddled the government with significant sanctions.

In the oft-cited ruling, the court lamented that “aside from perhaps perjury, no act serves to threaten the integrity of the judicial process more than the spoliation of evidence.”

Kroger Co. v. Walters

Another famous personal injury case serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of preserving evidence.

The court awarded the plaintiff in the slip-and-fall lawsuit over $2.4 million because it found the grocery chain acted in bad faith by failing to preserve surveillance video evidence.

Howard et al. v. Algeria

Howard et al. v. Algeria involves a collision between a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer. The former sued the latter for allegedly causing the accident.

The case hinged on data from the tractor-trailer’s vehicle computer, which the defendant erased. In the end, the court sided with the plaintiff and asserted that the “defendant’s claims of innocence and mistake lacked any credibility.”

Keaten v. Littleton Main Street LLC

In Keaten v. Little Main Street LLC, a mother and daughter sued an apartment management company for medical ailments that arose because of a meth lab that tenants set up in the apartment below theirs.

According to reports, the women experienced burning sensations, respiratory issues, and bloody noses on account of the toxins.

In the end, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded them $ 10.5 million because the management company failed to preserve evidence of the illegal operation.

Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants

Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants, also known as the “hot coffee case,” may be one of the most famous cases in American judicial history.

Stella Liebeck sued the ubiquitous fast-food chain after getting third-degree burns from a cup of spilled McDonald’s coffee.

Notably, one of the main reasons Liebeck won was because McDonald’s received over 700 complaints about the temperature of their coffee and didn’t take action. This evidence was disclosed through internal memos that the plaintiff’s attorneys secured during the discovery phase.

Preserving evidence can make or break a case, and a team of experienced personal injury lawyers who understand the nuances of finding, collecting, and preserving evidence can make all the difference in a lawsuit.