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Get the exam first. It is free, it does not require a police report, and for an adult it is available within 120 hours. The Houston hospitals that perform it are listed on our Houston SANE exam locations page.
If you are able to, report to the police now. You are not required to, but the same early evidence that builds a prosecution builds a civil claim.
Then call 713-521-0059, or message us, and say it happened this week. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept. There is no guaranteed response time, but we typically respond within 12 to 24 hours of a call or message.
Usually days or weeks, and then the system records over it unless someone tells the business to stop. Nothing in Texas law makes a business keep its video for you before it knows a claim exists. A written preservation letter from a lawyer is what changes that.
That is the one step that cannot wait. If the assault happened at a business, a property or in a rideshare, call 713-521-0059. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept.
More than people expect. Lobby, hallway, elevator, stairwell, parking lot, bar and entry cameras. Keycard and door logs showing who entered a room and when.
Front desk notes, incident reports, security rosters and the dispatch log for the night. For a rideshare, the trip record and the driver’s history.
In a civil case against a business, these records are usually the case. They show what the business saw, what it knew and what it did. See evidence after a sexual assault.
It depends on the system, and the business usually will not tell you until it is asked in writing. In Brookshire Bros., Ltd. v.
Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014), the Supreme Court of Texas described a store whose cameras recorded over themselves after about thirty days; the store kept about eight minutes of the event. Many systems keep less. Treat the window as days, not weeks.
It identifies the business, the date, the time, the locations and the records, and it demands in writing that the business preserve them. Once a business is on notice and destroys the evidence anyway, a court may be able to hold that against it. The letter is dated, specific and sent to the owner, the operator, the management company and the security contractor where there is one.
You cannot send it effectively yourself tonight, because you do not yet know who owns the property, who manages it and who runs its cameras. We do that part. A police report made now does something the letter cannot: it lets the police request the video with the authority of an investigation. Do both if you are able.
Write down the exact address, the room or unit number, the time, the entrances you used and anyone who saw you. Keep your receipts, your key card, your parking stub and your rideshare trip in the app. Photograph the location if it is safe to do so.
Do not post about it online, and do not contact the business about the cameras yourself. A manager who learns there may be a claim before a letter arrives sometimes reviews the video and keeps only what suits the business.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
If you remember nothing else from this page, remember these.
When you call, we listen first. Then we do what your case needs. That usually begins with written notice to the hotel, apartment complex, bar, rideshare company or anyone else holding video and records, so the evidence is kept.
Where the case calls for it, we bring in the right experts and, where it serves you, co-counsel with the resources a case like this demands. That decision is made in writing, with your consent, and it does not increase your total fee.
We tell you plainly whether a civil claim may exist and what it would take. Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston firm and has handled injury cases in Harris County for 50 plus years. There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
It varies by system and the business usually will not say until asked in writing. The Supreme Court of Texas has described a store whose cameras recorded over themselves after about thirty days. Treat it as days, not weeks.
You can, but a written preservation letter from a lawyer that names the records and the dates is what puts the business on notice in a way a court can later hold it to. That is where we start when you call.
The case may still exist. Keycard logs, incident reports, staffing records and prior complaints often survive longer than video, and a business that destroyed video after notice may face consequences for that.
No. It is a notice to the business to keep its records. You decide separately whether to bring a claim.