Product Preservation
You or your attorney can demand that the product be preserved. Some States, including Florida, under certain circumstances actually provide for sanctions — including a claim for “spoliation” or destruction of evidence — if an injury-causing product is not preserved. This means that efforts must be taken to prevent alteration or change or destruction of the injury-causing product. Your attorney may seek to take possession of the product, whether at his/her office or in a private storage facility. Sometimes this may require buying whoever possesses the product a new version of what you trying to take and preserve. In the case of vehicles in rollover crashes, the car is literally removed from the tow facility by a flatbed and delivered to a covered storage facility arranged for by the consumer’s attorney or both the consumer and defendants’ attorneys.
When the Product is Large
Sometimes, if the product is a large or extremely heavy piece of equipment (e.g. crane, etc.), then taking possession of the product may not be possible. Under these circumstances, your attorney should send a “product/evidence preservation letter” to whomever has possession or control of the injury-causing product, instructing them not to destroy it. This may even require court intervention.
Product Inspection
It is important to have the product inspected and photographed as soon as possible after after accident/injury. Preferably, the product will be at the scene of the accident or injury. This ensures that documentation of the product’s appearance, condition, are preserved, as well as the location where the accident/injury occurred. Depending on the product, your attorney will hire and bring an expert in the appropriate discipline/field to the inspection.
