Surveillance footage serves as powerful evidence in personal injury lawsuits, often providing objective documentation of accidents, injuries, and plaintiff activities. Business security cameras, traffic cameras, dashcams, and doorbell cameras capture crucial moments that witness testimony might miss or misremember. Attorneys must act quickly to preserve footage before automatic deletion, typically sending preservation letters within days. Defense counsel increasingly uses surveillance to challenge injury claims by showing plaintiffs engaging in activities inconsistent with alleged limitations. Courts generally admit properly authenticated surveillance footage as evidence. Privacy concerns rarely prevent admission of public area recordings. Video evidence can make or break cases by confirming or contradicting testimony about accident circumstances and injury severity. Modern cases often turn on which party obtains better video evidence.