What Walmart surveillance video should a lawyer request after a slip-and-fall?

The camera aimed at the place where someone fell is an obvious starting point. It may not be the only useful camera. A shelf can hide the floor from that view while another camera shows an employee carrying cleanup supplies toward it.

Before sending a request, identify what the case needs to establish. The Walmart knowledge hub explains the liability questions. The recording request should follow those questions, rather than ask only for “the accident video.”

Describe the location so a custodian can find it

Include the store address, incident date, approximate time and a description of the area. A store number, receipt or incident number may help. If the time is an estimate, say so and explain its basis.

The camera over the accident site may miss a useful event elsewhere. For example, footage of the service desk might show a customer reporting the water. Identify that event when asking for the additional view.

Choose the time window for the issue

For constructive notice, earlier footage may be more useful than repeated views of the fall. It may show the last dry-floor observation, the first appearance of liquid or an inspection.

For actual notice, the relevant sequence may begin with a conversation or an employee's reaction. For a warning dispute, it may begin when someone retrieves and places a cone. Keep pre-fall and post-fall events separate.

There is no single number of minutes appropriate for every request. Counsel should consider the known events, available retention information and the disputed issues. If later evidence reveals an earlier relevant event, the original request may need to be supplemented.

Ask what is needed to review the footage properly

If the supplied file is a phone video of a monitor, ask for the underlying footage. The phone may have missed the screen edges or skipped part of the playback. Ask for any player needed to open the original format.

Save the delivered files and their covering message. Find out where each camera was and whether the timestamp came from the source or was added on export.

Do not assume the camera time is correct to the second. It may be correct, but that should be established before comparing it with a phone call, receipt or inspection entry.

What if Walmart supplies only a short clip?

First, preserve that clip. Note its start and end times and whether it answers the question for which it was requested. Then ask what was recorded outside the clip, who selected it and what remains available.

The difference between a short export and a short source recording matters. A custodian may have saved a few minutes from a longer recording. Or the available recording may itself contain gaps. Neither should be assumed from the delivered clip alone.

Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014), concerned, among other things, a retained clip and lost surrounding footage. It explains the Texas spoliation framework, not a rule that every shortened production establishes wrongdoing. If material is missing, investigate the preservation duty, the loss and the resulting prejudice.

When Walmart declines to send a copy

Retained footage may still be withheld from an informal request. Obtaining it can require discovery, with counsel addressing any objections and privacy protections.

Keep the two statuses separate in the file: requested for preservation, and received for review. If there is no response, record that. Do not write “destroyed” merely because a copy has not arrived.

For the broader litigation process, read How to Litigate a Walmart Injury Case in Texas.

This is general information about Texas law, not advice for a particular case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines, available evidence and the applicable legal duties depend on the facts.