Three years to file a Rhode Island personal injury claim does not mean three years to throw away the damaged car, delete phone photos, or let surveillance footage disappear. That is the mistake that wrecks cases. Spoliation of evidence means destroying, losing, altering, or failing to preserve evidence that could prove what happened in an injury claim.

In practical terms, this usually involves things like a vehicle being repaired too soon after a crash on I-95 or Route 146, a business recording over security video, a trucking company losing driver logs, or text messages and app data getting deleted. Sometimes it is intentional. Sometimes it is just careless. Either way, the damage can be serious if that missing evidence would have shown fault, speed, road conditions, equipment failure, or the severity of an injury.

For a Rhode Island claim, spoliation can affect settlement value and what happens in court. A judge may allow penalties, limit defenses, or let a jury draw a negative inference against the party that destroyed the evidence. That matters even more in Rhode Island because it follows pure comparative fault - missing proof can shift how blame is divided and reduce what an injured person recovers. Sending a prompt preservation letter and keeping records, photos, damaged gear, and electronic data can make a real difference.