The person I am suing lawyer wants all past months worth of video

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I was using an action cam, and the defense lawyer is requesting all prior months worth of video. I assume to show if I was a speeding or reckless driver in the videos.

Is this even legal?

Since I didn't keep any old files except for the relevant accident files, can the defense lawyer argue evidence destruction or something and my case is lost?

They are requesting these files a year after the accident also.


Who the heck would keep gigs of stupid files? Especially 1080p action cam files.

I could have said I posted some driving video on you tube, that was long taken down even before the accident.

Did I really have a duty to keep video files of other days than the accident?

Yous see what this lawyer is trying to do? Even if they don't get the video evidence thrown out, they will tell a jury that I purposely didn't keep any old videos that would show my reckless driving.
 
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Lawyer is demonstrating his ignorance, better your lawyer let him make a fool of himself and when he tries to claim you have something to hide he can get a lesson how the cameras work and how many hours of footage they actually hold at any given time

That aside there is no obligation on your behalf to have archived any video prior or since
 
You have a duty to keep all RELEVANT evidence regarding the lawsuit. You do not have a duty to keep ALL evidence in your possession. Lawyers often ask for expansive discovery in the hope they can find something useful. Your lawyer should be able to shut him down by getting the judge to order that only relevant evidence be turned over. That would be videos preceding, including and following the accident.
 
Lawyers are vultures. No offense if anyone here is one.

Your prior driving habit has nothing to do with accident and it's more represented by prior traffic tickets that dashcam videos.
Not all lawyers are smart in trying to help their clients but all give more than needed hassle.
 
Lawyer is demonstrating his ignorance, better your lawyer let him make a fool of himself and when he tries to claim you have something to hide he can get a lesson how the cameras work and how many hours of footage they actually hold at any given time

That aside there is no obligation on your behalf to have archived any video prior or since
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He's just fishing to see if you are stupid enough to have them, and hand them over.
It's BS.

I assume you have a lawyer? There's no reason to worry about this unless your lawyer is totally inept.
SO they create some smoke and mirrors stuff to scare you into settling out of court.
 
He is calling your bluff to get some dirt on you. Evidence unrelated to the matter is not relevant unless there is some counter-claim.
 
Why not call this lawyer's bluff?

Tell him you don't archive video like that but you'd be more than happy to.

Start collecting mundane and boring video files of every day safe driving.

Let's say for example that you might fill a 32GB microSD card every day or so, maybe five or six hours of driving. A weeks worth of daily 32GB captures to a card would be 224 GB of data. At that rate 4 months of video would be 3,584 GB of data, so about 3 and a half terabytes. That would be about 600 hours of mundane driving to sort through.

When the time comes, hand over the files on a big pile of DVDs you've burned them to and say, "Have fun!" :p
 
Haha, if he really watches 600 hours of video and he has to at normal speed to find any moment you went over speed limit, he'll be charging that many hours to the other person. ;)
 
I'd make it worse than that. I'd turn off the speed first, then make the videos. Give him nothing to look at except terabytes of daily driving with no evidence that you ever exceeded the speed limit. I'd also turn off the audio. Let him sort through terabytes of soundless nothing.
 
Your own lawyer knows best and that's who you need to be speaking with- if you don't have one you should ;) And do nothing to any files you do have- any editing of any kind will render them inadmissible and you can (and probably will) be charged with "Tampering with Evidence" which will hurt your case hugely and is a crime in itself even if the case is dropped :eek:

I have a few older vids on my computer for reference to specific past incidents, references to how a particular camera performed to make comparisons with, and as proof of my past driving habits. I'm happy to bore you or anyone else to death with them :p The rest is whatever is currently on the card. Generally you are only required to keep and maintain directly relevant evidence, and unless you have plans to submit vids of your past driving those are not directly relevant. Whether you can be compelled to turn them over will vary by state law, but generally the answer is "no". If you deny access that also means that you can't use them either.

It sounds like this is at the "discovery" stage which will determine who has what evidence and you and them are required to share all the relevant evidence you have or that you might use yourself. Anything not shared during "discovery" cannot be later admitted as direct evidence, but can be used in other important roles. That is why you need a lawyer and you need to let them decide how to best handle this. The procedures are not complex but they do have lots of little details involved that can destroy your case if they are not dealt with correctly.

I've been through the system enough times to know something about it, and the best advice I can give you is for you to hire the best lawyer you can if losing is not an option.

Phil
 
When you say editing of any kind. What if the file you have of what you thought was relevant at the time was cut or ripped from a much larger and longer video and you didn't keep the remaining video.

Like if you only have a short time before the accident and after the accident.

One other things, not all lawyers are good and if you choose the wrong one you are screwed. There is also no way to find good accident lawyers in many cases, you can't find any information on them so you have to almost just choose at random.
 
What you do now is nothing- you don't touch anything at all in any way other than to perhaps view those files you do have. If you've made any alterations to anything tell your lawyer about that. Then do whatever the lawyer tells you to do from there.

Your Lawyer and your Doctor must be only the best, for when you're in trouble they are the only ones dedicated to saving your hide. That won't be cheap but what's your hide worth? Mine is priceless so whatever my lawyer costs is a bargain and if we win I get back all the money I paid for him.

Phil
 
I first became interested in dash cams because I was being harassed by someone who was eventually arrested in part because of the footage I submitted to law enforcement. When possible I would archive complete 5 minute loops that included specific events but I never kept irrelevant files because it was impractical and unnecessary. Often I would edit out irrelevant parts of a clip for expedience but always left enough before and after event footage to establish context. At no time did law enforcement personnel, prosecutors or the defense attorney ever request to see footage I hadn't already submitted because the files I did submit provided actionable evidence that clearly provided probable cause.

Last winter an intoxicated young fellow came flying down the road at ten o'clock in the morning in front of my house, spun out of control nearly slamming his car into my house after sliding sideways across my front lawn taking out a small stone wall. He then proceeded to try to flee the scene but got stuck on the ice in my driveway where he spent a fair amount of time with his two passengers trying to get the vehicle moving while spinning his wheels the whole time until he got completely stuck. The whole event was captured on two different CCTV cameras much to the delight of the cops who showed up and arrested the three of them. At one point you can see me on camera standing in my front doorway yelling at these idiots out in my driveway as they completely ignored me as if I weren't even there. Then none of the three would admit to who was actually driving the vehicle when questioned by the police but the footage put that question to rest. I kept about an hour of footage before and after the accident on my computer but only submitted the actual event up until the cops arrived. I've not been asked for any additional footage.

A lot of the people who deal with this kind of thing are very busy people who don't care to spend their time wading through hours and hours of irrelevant footage that is immaterial to the case, especially if what they are seeing already provides solid documentation. The opposing attorney here is on an obfuscatory fishing trip that is nothing more than a red herring.
 
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I would like to give circumstances here to see if past video could be relevant. The details are not about my case because of privacy reasons. I will make something up here to try and give reason for the accident.

Lets say i was involved in an accident because an employee pulled in front of me with their car to try and stop me and causing me to swerve and get into an accident, The employee is claiming that i was doing doughnuts in the past in the parking lot.

There is no proof to any of that.

The defense is now wanting past video footage claiming it will show that the employee was trying to stop me for doing doughnuts in the past in his parking lot.

If I don't have any video of me doing that in the past, could they argue that they can not build their case to show the employee was only trying to stop me or something like that.
 
the defense lawyer is requesting all prior months worth of video
Since there are no prior videos in existence, I suggest you comply with his request. I.e. give him ... all of that nothing.

Edit> To be done through your lawyer with his approval!
 
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I would like to give circumstances here to see if past video could be relevant. The details are not about my case because of privacy reasons. I will make something up here to try and give reason for the accident.

Lets say i was involved in an accident because an employee pulled in front of me with their car to try and stop me and causing me to swerve and get into an accident, The employee is claiming that i was doing doughnuts in the past in the parking lot.

There is no proof to any of that.

The defense is now wanting past video footage claiming it will show that the employee was trying to stop me for doing doughnuts in the past in his parking lot.

If I don't have any video of me doing that in the past, could they argue that they can not build their case to show the employee was only trying to stop me or something like that.

Well, what does the video you've apparently already submitted show? If you were doing donuts in the parking lot before this particular alleged event wouldn't the video show that? Either you were driving recklessly or not. If you were driving recklessly on any other occasion I'm not sure that is legally relevant, assuming you were not on this "hypothetical" occasion.
 
I would like to give circumstances here to see if past video could be relevant. The details are not about my case because of privacy reasons. I will make something up here to try and give reason for the accident.

Lets say i was involved in an accident because an employee pulled in front of me with their car to try and stop me and causing me to swerve and get into an accident, The employee is claiming that i was doing doughnuts in the past in the parking lot.

There is no proof to any of that.

The defense is now wanting past video footage claiming it will show that the employee was trying to stop me for doing doughnuts in the past in his parking lot.

If I don't have any video of me doing that in the past, could they argue that they can not build their case to show the employee was only trying to stop me or something like that.
You need to talk to your lawyer. Or get one if you don't have one. Anything you write here can be used against you by your opponents. It's time to take this offline.
 
Well, what does the video you've apparently already submitted show? If you were doing donuts in the parking lot before this particular alleged event wouldn't the video show that? Either you were driving recklessly or not. If you were driving recklessly on any other occasion I'm not sure that is legally relevant, assuming you were not on this "hypothetical" occasion.


In the video I have I am just driving down the street normally and the car pulls in front of me quickly and I have to swerve causing an accident.

They are claiming I was in the past driving recklessly, and the employee wanted to stop me.

There is no proof of me driving recklessly, but because I had video of them causing me the accident they figure I have video of me driving recklessly in the past and maybe at their location.

I think the defense strategy is to try and show the person had the right to cause me an accident because I was in the past driving reckless. I guess if I don't have any past video showing that they could argue I am hiding evidence?

I never would have figured the defense can ask for stuff like this during discovery.

It is totally illegal what the guy did pulling in front of me like that, even if it was true 100% I was driving recklessly at his location in the past. This is why I am not sure why they would even use that in their defense?
 
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