The video is on a timer. Here's how to stop it.

Why asking doesn't work

Customers who call and ask for footage are almost universally told no, or told it will be handled through the claims process, or simply never called back. That isn't hostility so much as policy — loss prevention doesn't release footage to claimants, and the request often doesn't reach anyone with the authority to flag the file.

Spoliation, and why the letter matters even if they ignore it

Spoliation is the destruction of evidence a party knew or should have known was relevant to a claim. Where a court finds it happened, the remedies can be severe: an instruction telling the jury it may assume the destroyed evidence was unfavorable to the store, exclusion of the store's own competing evidence, or in extreme cases a finding on liability.

What to demand, specifically

Vague requests get vague compliance. Name the material.

• Footage from every camera with a view of the incident location, plus the aisles and entrances feeding it
• A window well beyond the incident itself — several hours before and at least an hour after, so the hazard's origin and the store's response are both captured
• The incident report and any internal claim file
• Sweep, inspection, and floor maintenance logs for that date and the preceding days
• Work orders, maintenance records, and repair invoices for the specific location or equipment
• Prior incident reports at the same location
• Employee schedules and identities for the department at that time
• Any photographs taken by store personnel

Time this in days, not weeks

Everything else in a premises case can wait a little. This cannot. If you're going to talk to an attorney about a store injury at all, doing it in the first week or two is worth more than anything else you can do — because the letter goes out the day someone is engaged.