What Can Costco Inspection Records Prove After a Fall?

A floor-check entry shows that someone recorded a task. Whether anyone actually looked at the spot where you fell is a separate question.

What is the short answer?

An inspection record can show who logged a check, when it was logged and which zone it named.

Why would Costco hand you a sweep log at all?

Because it's often the store's best answer to the notice question. An adjuster may send a printout with a line like "4:00 p.m. sweep complete" and treat it as the end of the matter. It isn't. But it isn't nothing, either. You have to take the entry apart.

What did the Texas Supreme Court say in 2026?

Look at what happened to the shopper in H-E-B, LP v. Peterson (Tex. Apr. 10, 2026). She slipped on a clear puddle in a toy aisle. Video showed no H-E-B employee had walked that aisle for two hours. She also pointed to roof leaks elsewhere in the store and to the store's rainy-day inspection protocol.

She still lost. The court reinstated summary judgment for H-E-B because nothing in the record showed how long the puddle had been on the floor. Leaks in other parts of the building didn't count. Neither did the protocol, and the court noted that an internal policy doesn't raise a store's standard of care.

So a two-hour gap in your Costco log is worth having, but on its own it won't carry you past summary judgment. (Our guide on how to litigate a Costco injury case in Texas walks through that motion, and the Costco injury claims in Texas hub has the rest of the series.)

What does "sweep complete" actually mean?

Nobody outside the store knows until someone explains it under oath. It could be a worker who walked the route and tapped a handheld when done. It could be a paper sheet initialed at 9 p.m. for the whole shift. (We're describing questions to ask here, not Costco's actual software.)

Ask for these four things by name:

• device and login history
• the zone map in effect that day
• the audit trail and edit history
• the list of exception codes and what each one means

How do you test the entry against the video?

You'll want the sweep route map and the camera layout, with an X where you fell on each. Then:

1. Note the time on the log entry (say, 4:12 p.m.).
2. Pull the footage for 4:10 to 4:15 from every camera near your X.
3. Find the worker. Is he at the doors, or across the building by the tire center?
4. Check the camera clock against the handheld clock. Five minutes off is common.
5. Ask him, under oath, whether he tapped "done" on the floor or later at the desk.

What does a dispute look like?

Here is a hypothetical example, not an actual case. A worker's handheld logs "Front entrance done" at 4:12 p.m. At 4:15, a member's foot slides out on the rubber mat just inside the doors. In his deposition, the worker says his 4:12 task was rounding up carts in the vestibule, and that the mat belongs to a different zone. She says she stood by that mat for a minute waiting for her husband, and nobody walked across it.

Who's right? The zone map answers the first half. If the 4:12 task never covered the mat, his entry says nothing about it, good or bad. The second half, when the mat got wet, is the one that usually decides these cases (see how long a spill must be on a Costco floor).

Can the records be used in court?

Yes, with the right foundation under the Texas Rules of Evidence.

Keep two piles. The written floor-walk procedure goes in the "what Costco expected" pile. The audit trail and testimony go in the "what Costco did" pile.

Frequently asked questions

Does a recent "sweep complete" entry mean I have no case?

No. Find out what area the entry covered and whether anyone looked at your spot.

Does a missing entry prove Costco knew about the spill?

No, not by itself. You still need proof that the store knew or should have known of the hazard. Here's how you can prove Costco knew about a spill.

Is a screenshot of the log good enough?

Not really. Ask for the native data, the audit trail and the zone map. A screenshot hides the edit history.

Sources

1. H-E-B, LP v. Peterson, No. 24-0310 (Tex. Apr. 10, 2026)
2. Texas Rules of Evidence, Rules 803(6), 805 and 901

This article is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not make you our client, and every claim turns on its own facts and deadlines.