Destruction of Evidence in Trucking Cases in Georgia

Let’s discuss the destruction of evidence in trucking cases. Federal regulations require that the trucking company maintained in preserve records for a certain period of time depending on the situation. Sometimes a trucking company after an accident will either intentionally or negligently destroy records which are relevant to a trucking case.
If a trucking company destroys records following an accident, a court could actually order sanctions against the trucking company or a jury could find that there was of what we call in the law spoliation of the evidence and award punitive damages against the trucking company for destroying the records or failing to maintain them. In fact, a judge may instruct the jury that the reason the trucking company destroyed the records was because the evidence, if discovered, would have been harmful to the trucking company.
The court could also enter a judgment against the company if any evidence was tampered with. For that reason, truck accident attorneys invariably will go ahead and send to the trucking company maybe to the place where the truck is housed as well as the trucks insurance company, what we call a spoliation letter. This basically puts the parties on notice that they should not destroy any evidence as all evidence is relevant to the plaintiff’s case. If you believe that evidence was destroyed or was supposedly innocently discarded following a truck accident that you were involved in and you have questions about this, please contact my office at 770-792-1000.