$220,000 Recovery: Swimming Pool Slip and Fall When the Evidence Was Destroyed

When a property owner destroys evidence before you can inspect it, most people assume their case is over. This case proves otherwise.

Our client slipped and fell at a swimming pool facility in North Miami Beach, suffering a fractured hand. Before we could inspect the dangerous surface that caused the fall, the property owner paved over it — permanently destroying the physical evidence we needed to prove our case.

What the property owner did not count on was the legal doctrine of spoliation.

What Is Spoliation of Evidence?

Spoliation refers to the intentional or negligent destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence that is relevant to pending or reasonably foreseeable litigation. Under Florida law, when a party destroys evidence, courts can impose serious consequences — including allowing the jury to draw an adverse inference against the spoliating party.

In plain terms: if you destroy evidence, the jury can be told to assume that evidence would have hurt you. That presumption is powerful.

In this case, we argued that the property owner paved over the pool deck surface knowing that our client had been injured and that a claim was likely. By destroying the evidence before we could inspect it, they eliminated our ability to document the dangerous condition firsthand. We moved for a spoliation finding and the resulting adverse inference became a centerpiece of our case.

Why This Case Mattered Beyond the Money

This result illustrates something critical about personal injury litigation: the absence of evidence is not the same as the absence of a case. When evidence has been destroyed, altered, or hidden, an experienced attorney knows how to fight back using the law itself.

Property owners who attempt to cover up dangerous conditions — literally, in this case — should not be rewarded for doing so. Our client fractured her hand. She went through painful treatment and recovery. The fact that the property owner eliminated physical evidence did not eliminate her right to justice.

What to Do If Evidence in Your Case Has Been Destroyed

If you were injured on someone else's property and you suspect the owner has altered, repaired, or destroyed the condition that caused your injury, contact an attorney immediately. Time matters. The sooner you retain counsel, the sooner we can send a formal evidence preservation letter demanding that no further changes be made and creating a legal record of what existed at the time of your injury.

Do not assume your case is unwinnable because evidence is missing. Call us first.