In the chaotic aftermath of a truck accident, evidence begins disappearing almost immediately. Electronic logs overwrite, dashcam footage deletes on schedule, and maintenance records get filed away where they may never be found. A spoliation letter is the legal tool that stops this destruction, putting trucking companies on notice that they must preserve everything related to your case. Sending this letter quickly is often the most important step in protecting your right to compensation.
The concept behind a spoliation letter is straightforward. Once a party knows or should know that evidence may be relevant to litigation, they have a legal duty to preserve it. Without formal notice, trucking companies can claim they didn't realize a lawsuit was coming and that any evidence destruction was simply routine business practice. A spoliation letter eliminates this excuse by creating documented proof that the company knew evidence needed to be kept.
Why Evidence Disappears So Quickly
Commercial trucking generates enormous amounts of data, and companies have systems in place to manage it. Electronic logging devices store data for a limited period before overwriting. Dashcam systems record on continuous loops. GPS tracking data gets purged monthly. Even paper records like driver logs and inspection reports may be discarded according to retention schedules that have nothing to do with preserving evidence for accident victims.
The trucking company's interests in a serious accident case are not aligned with yours. They want to minimize liability, which sometimes means letting unfavorable evidence quietly disappear. While outright destruction of evidence is illegal once a preservation duty exists, the line between routine data management and intentional spoliation can be blurry. A prompt spoliation letter removes any ambiguity about the duty to preserve.
Even well-intentioned companies may inadvertently destroy evidence without proper notice. A mechanic might repair the truck without documenting its pre-repair condition. An IT administrator might run scheduled deletions on server data. The driver might continue using the truck, allowing new ECM data to overwrite crash records. These routine actions become spoliation once a preservation demand is on record.
What a Spoliation Letter Must Include
An effective spoliation letter clearly identifies the accident and the sender's relationship to it. It should include the date, time, and location of the crash, along with any identifying information about the truck and driver involved. The letter must make clear that the sender anticipates litigation and that all relevant evidence must be preserved.
The most important part of the letter is the detailed list of evidence to be preserved. In truck accident cases, this includes electronic data from the ECM and ELD, dashcam and external camera footage, GPS and telematics records, driver qualification files, training records, drug and alcohol testing history, maintenance and inspection records, dispatch communications, load documentation, and insurance information. The more specific the demand, the harder it becomes to claim that particular evidence wasn't covered.
The letter should instruct recipients to implement a litigation hold—a formal process to suspend normal deletion and retention practices for relevant materials. It should specify that the hold applies to all employees and systems that might contain relevant evidence. The letter should also request confirmation of receipt and implementation of the preservation measures.
Timing Is Everything
The window for sending an effective spoliation letter is narrow. Some critical evidence, like ECM snapshot data, may be overwritten within days if the truck continues operating. Dashcam footage typically survives only 30 to 60 days. Even data with longer retention periods should be locked down immediately to prevent any possibility of loss.
Ideally, a spoliation letter should be sent within 24 to 72 hours of a serious truck accident. This requires having legal representation in place quickly—another reason why accident victims should contact an attorney as soon as possible. An experienced truck accident lawyer will have spoliation letter templates ready and know exactly what evidence to demand for your specific situation.
The method of delivery matters as well. Spoliation letters should be sent via certified mail, FedEx, or another method that provides proof of delivery. Consider sending copies to multiple addresses—corporate headquarters, the registered agent, local terminals, and any other addresses associated with the trucking company. The goal is to eliminate any claim that the letter wasn't received.
Who Should Receive the Letter
In a typical truck accident, multiple parties may possess relevant evidence. The trucking company is the obvious first recipient, but the letter should also go to the truck driver individually, the owner of the truck and trailer if different from the carrier, any freight broker involved in the shipment, the shipper who loaded the cargo, and any maintenance companies that serviced the vehicle.
Electronic service providers may also have relevant data. The ELD provider maintains copies of driving logs. Telematics companies store GPS and vehicle performance data. Dashcam cloud services retain footage on their servers. These third parties should receive preservation demands to ensure no copy of important evidence is lost simply because it existed outside the trucking company's direct control.
Consequences of Violating a Preservation Demand
Once a party receives a spoliation letter, destroying relevant evidence carries serious legal consequences. Courts have broad discretion to sanction spoliation, and the remedies can dramatically affect the outcome of a case.
The most common sanction is an adverse inference instruction, where the judge tells the jury they may assume the destroyed evidence would have been unfavorable to the party who destroyed it. This is often devastating to a defendant's case—the jury is essentially told they can conclude the trucking company destroyed evidence because it proved their driver was at fault.
Courts can also order monetary sanctions, requiring the spoliating party to pay attorney fees and costs associated with the spoliation. In extreme cases of intentional destruction, courts have entered default judgments, ruling that the spoliating party loses as punishment for destroying evidence. These severe consequences exist because the justice system depends on parties preserving relevant evidence once litigation is anticipated.
What If Evidence Was Already Destroyed
Accident victims who didn't send a spoliation letter immediately may still have options. If evidence was destroyed through truly routine practices before litigation was reasonably anticipated, sanctions may not apply—but the evidence may still exist in other forms. ELD data is often transmitted to service providers who maintain independent copies. GPS tracking data may be backed up on corporate servers. Dashcam footage might have been downloaded for other purposes.
Even when evidence is genuinely lost, its absence can sometimes work in your favor. If the trucking company claims they have no dashcam footage but you can prove a camera was installed, the jury may draw their own conclusions about why the footage isn't available. The key is demonstrating that evidence should have existed and was either destroyed or suspiciously unavailable.
Professional Assistance Matters
While accident victims can technically send their own spoliation letters, professional legal assistance produces better results. An experienced truck accident attorney knows exactly what evidence exists in these cases and how to demand it specifically. They understand the technical systems involved and can anticipate attempts to circumvent preservation requirements.
Attorneys also provide credibility that individual letters may lack. A spoliation letter from a law firm signals that serious litigation is coming and that evidence destruction will be aggressively pursued. This encourages compliance in ways that a letter from an individual accident victim might not.
The investment in prompt legal representation often pays for itself through evidence preservation alone. A single piece of preserved evidence—dashcam footage showing distracted driving, or ECM data proving excessive speed—can transform a disputed case into a clear winner. The spoliation letter that preserves this evidence may be the most valuable document in your entire case.