You Fell in a Store in Ohio Months Ago: Whether the Video Still Exists and How to Ask for It

Attorney Answer

Maybe, but do not count on it. Many security systems record over footage on a routine cycle unless someone flags it, so send the store a written request to keep all video and incident records from your fall, today. If the fall was reported when it happened, the store was on notice of a possible claim and may have saved the footage; if not, it may already be gone, and your claim would rest on witnesses, photos and your medical records. You have two years from the fall to sue.

When a business has to keep evidence. Ohio courts recognize that a party must preserve evidence it knows, or reasonably should know, is relevant to a likely claim, even before any lawsuit is filed; an Ohio appeals court said so in Loukinas v. Roto-Rooter Servs. Co., 167 Ohio App.3d 559, 855 N.E.2d 1272 (1st Dist. 2006), in a case about a plaintiff's own evidence. A written request tells the store, in terms it cannot later deny, that the footage matters.

If the video is destroyed. The Supreme Court of Ohio recognized in Smith v. Howard Johnson Co., 67 Ohio St.3d 28, 615 N.E.2d 1037 (1993), a claim for interference with or destruction of evidence, but only for willful destruction designed to disrupt a case, when litigation is pending or probable and the destroyer knows it. Footage recorded over on a routine cycle before anyone asked is unlikely to meet that test. In a lawsuit, Ohio Civil Rule 37(E) lets a court order measures to cure the harm when electronically stored information that should have been preserved is lost; only on a finding that a party intended to deprive the other side of it may the court presume the lost footage was unfavorable or tell the jury it may. That is why the request should go out now.

The claim itself. A store owes its customers ordinary care to keep the premises reasonably safe, but it is not a guarantor of their safety, as the Supreme Court of Ohio put it in Paschal v. Rite Aid Pharmacy, Inc., 18 Ohio St.3d 203, 480 N.E.2d 474 (1985), a case the shopper lost because the hazard was one she could see. What caused your fall, and whether the store knew or should have known about it, is what the claim is built on. The deadline is Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10(A):

(A) Except as provided in division (C) or (E) of this section, an action based on a product liability claim and an action for bodily injury or injuring personal property shall be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues. Except as provided in divisions (B)(1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) of this section, a cause of action accrues under this division when the injury or loss to person or property occurs.

What you can do

1. Send the store manager, and the company's corporate office, a dated letter asking them to keep all video from the date, time and area of your fall, any incident report, and cleaning or inspection logs for that day. Send it in a way you can prove, such as certified mail plus email.

2. Ask whether an incident report was made when you fell, and request a copy.

3. Gather your own evidence: photos, the shoes you wore, names of anyone who saw it, and your medical records and bills.

4. Talk to a lawyer about following up; a lawyer's preservation letter often gets a faster response.

5. Even if you are handling this yourself, you would be best served by a brief phone consultation with a local Ohio attorney before you act. Most lawyers offer a short initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — and on how your court actually handles this — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Two years from the fall to file suit under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10(A). The video may not last nearly that long.