Preservation/spoilation letters are a vital tool for private investigators to prevent evidence from being destroyed in complex civil litigation and criminal defense cases.
Disclaimer: The author is not an attorney, and the information contained within this article should not be construed as legal advice.
In an article I wrote in 2017, “Evidence Expires,” I point out what should be obvious: hiring a private investigator in the early stages of criminal and civil cases gives clients the best chance of success. Speed often determines case outcomes. The window of opportunity to locate and preserve evidence closes quickly. Certain categories of evidence expire within weeks or even days: surveillance video, text messages, emails, records, etc., are easily and often destroyed. Sometimes the destruction is a deliberate effort to obscure evidence. But other times, it’s just the normal course of business. Surveillance video is taped over, and inboxes get cleaned up — with no nefarious intent.
