What is a spoliation letter, and why does it go out in week one?

What the letter does legally

Texas imposes a duty to preserve evidence on a party who knows, or reasonably should know, that litigation is likely and that the evidence in its hands is relevant to it. The preservation letter's job is to eliminate every argument about that duty: after it lands, the surveillance loop that overwrites, the truck data that vanishes in repair, the personnel file that gets purged, none of it can be shrugged off as routine. Under the framework the Texas Supreme Court has built, the judge decides whether a preservation duty was breached, and the remedies scale with culpability, from evidentiary and cost sanctions up to the spoliation instruction, which invites the jury to presume the destroyed evidence would have hurt the destroyer, a presumption reserved for intentional destruction or losses that gut the case, and one few defendants can survive.

What a serious letter demands

Boilerplate letters preserve nothing; specific ones preserve everything. A serious letter names the incident, then lists the evidence by category and system: all camera footage in native format for defined hours and areas, before the loop erases it; vehicle electronic data, event data recorders, engine modules, ELD hours, telematics, dashcams, before repair or salvage wipes it; the physical evidence itself, the vehicle, the product, the failed component, held unaltered; the paper and digital trail, incident reports, sweep and inspection logs, work orders, maintenance files, dispatch records, driver qualification and personnel files, post-incident drug and alcohol testing; and the communications, emails, texts, and platform messages about the event. Each case type has its own list, and knowing the list is half the practice.

What the letter is not

It is not a demand to hand anything over. Production comes later, through discovery, subpoenas, and depositions on written questions; the letter demands only that the evidence exist when that day comes. It is also not self-help: you do not confront the store manager for the video or the trucking company for the download. The letter is served on the defendant, its insurer, its employer, and the third parties who hold pieces, and it is drafted to be read aloud to a judge two years later, because that is precisely where it may end up.

Why week one, not month three

Every deadline on this website is measured in months or years except this one. Surveillance systems overwrite in days; carriers purge phone records on schedules measured in months; vehicles get repaired, totaled, and crushed; employees scatter. The preservation letter is cheap, fast, and irreversible in your favor, and it is the first document Silver Key Law sends in nearly every case it takes, often the same week as the consultation, which is free.

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Related: Black Box & Truck Evidence · Getting Your Crash Report · Submit Your Case · All Common Questions

This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes depend on facts; talk to a lawyer about yours.