Preservation of evidence letter.

[Date]

Sent by: [email to __________ and certified mail, return receipt requested — keep proof of both]

Re: PRESERVATION OF EVIDENCE — [Incident, Date, Location; Claim or Anticipated Claim]

Dear [Name]:

[Editing note — delete before sending: If you know this recipient has a lawyer for this matter, address the letter to that lawyer. Delete every numbered category and every module below that does not fit your incident, then renumber. A short, specific letter is taken more seriously than a long generic one.]

I [represent [client name] / am writing on my own behalf] regarding [describe the incident: date, time, place, people, vehicles, or accounts involved]. Litigation is reasonably anticipated. I ask that you take reasonable steps to preserve the materials described below that relate to this incident and are within your possession, custody, or control.

This is a preservation request only. It does not ask you to produce or send anything now, and it is not a subpoena, a discovery request, or a public-records request. If production is appropriate later, it will follow whatever procedure then applies.

Materials to Preserve

Unless stated otherwise, "the relevant period" is [date range]. Please preserve:

1. [The specific items you already know exist — name them: "video from the two cameras covering the north entrance," "the 2023 Freightliner, unit 411, and its trailer," "text messages between [names] about [subject]." Specificity here is what makes the letter credible.]
2. Communications about [the incident / subject] from the relevant period, including email, text messages, and workplace messaging (Teams, Slack, Google Chat, or similar), including messages on personal devices used for that purpose and messages in channels set to delete automatically.
3. Electronic records about [the incident / subject] from the relevant period, including [keep only what applies: incident and investigation reports; system, access, and audit logs; dispatch or database records; cloud-stored documents], preserved in native format with associated metadata rather than only as printouts or PDFs.

[Module — Vehicle / Commercial Vehicle. Delete if not a vehicle case.]

The [vehicle] itself in its post-incident condition. Please do not repair, alter, inspect destructively, salvage, or dispose of it before giving me reasonable written notice and an opportunity to inspect and photograph it. Please also preserve: event data recorder / engine control module data (continued operation can overwrite it — please act on this first); electronic logging device and hours-of-service records; telematics, GPS, and dashcam data, including data held by your telematics or camera vendor; driver qualification, dispatch, and load records; and post-incident inspection, maintenance, and testing records.

[Module — Premises / Video. Delete if no video or premises condition is involved.]

Video from every camera that covered [location] during [time window], exported in native format with the player and system date-time information, plus the recorder's retention or overwrite schedule, camera layout, and any incident or inspection logs for that period. Because many systems overwrite within days, please act on this category first and tell me promptly if any part of the window has already been overwritten. If a physical condition is at issue, please do not alter [the condition] before I have reasonable notice and an opportunity to inspect and photograph it.

[Module — Employment. Delete if not an employment matter.]

For [named custodians], for the relevant period: email and calendar records; workplace chat messages; the personnel, performance, and disciplinary records of [named individuals]; the versions of the policies and handbook in force during the relevant period; and records in HR or performance systems about [the complaint, investigation, or decision at issue].

[Module — Government Entity. Delete if the recipient is not a public body.]

Body-worn and vehicle camera video, radio traffic, computer-aided dispatch records, incident and use-of-force reports, photographs, and logs concerning [incident], together with the retention schedule applicable to each. This is a preservation request, not an Oklahoma Open Records Act request; any records request will be submitted separately to your records custodian.

[Module — Online Accounts / Platforms. Delete if not applicable.]

Account content and activity records for [account / handle] relating to [subject]. If you are a service provider that does not act on private preservation requests, please say so, so preservation can be addressed through the account holder or appropriate legal process.

Automatic Deletion

To the extent a source above is subject to automatic overwriting, deletion, or return to service — camera overwrite cycles, retention and auto-purge settings, disappearing-message features, device reimaging or reassignment, account offboarding, or vehicle data overwritten by continued operation — please suspend that process for the identified materials. For backup or archive media, this request applies only where a backup is the only remaining source of identified materials; it is not a request to suspend routine backup rotation generally or to image every device.

If any identified category is unavailable, already deleted, outside your control, or scheduled for deletion, please tell me promptly so the issue can be addressed before anything else is lost.

Legal Basis

[Editing note — delete before sending: Keep the paragraph below if the recipient is the expected opposing party. If the recipient is not an expected party — a camera owner, a vendor, a bystander's employer — delete it and use the nonparty paragraph that follows instead.]

The duty to preserve relevant evidence can arise before a lawsuit is filed, when litigation is reasonably anticipated. In Oklahoma state court, sanctions for destroyed or materially altered evidence are addressed under 12 O.S. § 3237 and the courts' inherent authority. See Barnett v. Simmons, 2008 OK 100, ¶¶ 14, 18–26. Section 3237(G) protects ESI lost through the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic information system absent exceptional circumstances; this letter provides notice a court may consider in evaluating whether any later loss through routine operation occurred in good faith. In federal court, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e) governs electronically stored information that should have been preserved and is lost because reasonable steps were not taken and cannot be restored or replaced; available measures depend on prejudice, and the most serious remedies require a finding of intent to deprive. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(e)(1)–(2).

[Nonparty alternative — use instead of the paragraph above when the recipient is not an expected party:] Because you may not be a party to any eventual case, this letter asks for your voluntary cooperation in preserving the identified materials. If necessary, a subpoena or other formal process may follow. Please tell me promptly if you are unable or unwilling to preserve any identified item.

Confirmation

[Editing note — delete before sending: Keep the first sentence below only for an expected opposing party. For a nonparty, use the bracketed alternative instead — do not ask a nonparty for an open-ended, forward-looking commitment.]

This request is continuing and includes materials in the identified categories created after the date of this letter. [Nonparty alternative: This request concerns the existing materials identified above.] Please confirm in writing within ten (10) business days that you received this letter and identify a contact for preservation questions. This is a request; I do not represent that any statute or rule independently requires a response within that time.