Injuries at Sea: Destroying Evidence Before Injured Seaman’s Lawyer Can Inspect Equipment
Injuries at sea are often caused by equipment that fails under normal use. Lines snap. Crane parts fail. Deck boards break. Ordinarily, when those items of equipment are produced or inspected immediately following an injury, then the case can be relatively straightforward. But, when there is a passage of time, broken equipment is lost or thrown away. Memories fade – sometimes conveniently fade. There is no question that the lawyer’s job is much easier – and the case much stronger – when the lawyer can get to the scene of the injury soon after it happens and the broken equipment can be preserved.
What happens when the equipment is thrown away? What happens when the injury scene is purposefully altered? There is a rule of law regarding “spoliation” of evidence.
Spoliation of evidence is generally defined as either willfully or negligently destroying or loosing documents or objects that could be used during legal proceedings. Washington State defines spoliation as the “intentional destruction of evidence.” Inherent in this is the assumption that the party which destroyed the evidence, even if the destruction was negligent and not intentional, knew or should have known the evidence would be legally pertinent. A lack of evidence may also beg the question: Did the evidence exist in the first place?
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