How to Get a Subpoena for Video Surveillance: Drafting and Filing

To get a subpoena for video surveillance footage, you need a pending civil or criminal case, a properly drafted subpoena duces tecum under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 (or your state’s equivalent), and personal service on whoever controls the recording. But the subpoena is step two. Step one is sending a preservation letter the same day you decide the footage matters, because most commercial systems overwrite recordings on a 30 to 90 day cycle, and some small businesses keep only seven days of video.

Send a Preservation Letter Today

This is where most people lose the footage before they ever draft a subpoena. Drafting, filing, and serving legal paperwork takes time. If the recording cycles through a 30-day loop and you spend three weeks getting organized, the video no longer exists.

A preservation letter is a written demand telling the footage holder to stop any automatic deletion and keep specific recordings intact. Identify the exact date, time range, and camera location you need preserved, and make clear that litigation is anticipated or already underway. Send it to the business owner, property manager, or their attorney. Certified mail or email with delivery confirmation creates a paper trail proving you made the request.

The letter does more than ask politely. Once someone has reason to anticipate litigation, they have a legal duty to preserve relevant evidence. If they destroy footage after receiving the letter, courts can impose spoliation sanctions ranging from an adverse inference instruction, where the jury is told to assume the destroyed footage would have hurt the party that deleted it, up to excluded testimony or dismissed claims. A preservation letter both protects the recording and creates leverage if the holder gets careless with it.

You Need a Pending Case Before a Subpoena Exists

A subpoena is not a document you can generate on your own before a legal proceeding is underway. Under Rule 45, a subpoena is issued in connection with a pending case. The court clerk issues a signed but blank subpoena to a party who requests one, and the party fills in the details before service. An attorney authorized to practice in the issuing court can issue and sign one directly.¹ If you are representing yourself, you get the blank form from the clerk’s office after your case is filed.

The sequence works like this: incident happens, preservation letter goes out immediately, lawsuit is filed or the criminal case proceeds, and then the subpoena issues. If your case has not been filed yet and the footage is at risk, the preservation letter is your only tool. Some attorneys file suit quickly for exactly this reason: to unlock subpoena power before the recording disappears.

Try Asking First

Not every situation requires a subpoena. Many businesses will hand over footage if you simply ask, especially if you were involved in the recorded incident. A gas station where you slipped, a parking garage where your car was hit, a store where an altercation occurred. Walk in, explain what happened, ask who handles their security system, and put your request in writing.

If the business refuses or stalls, shift to formal channels. The informal request still helps even when it fails, because it puts the business on notice that the footage matters, which strengthens any later spoliation argument if they let it get deleted. Send the informal request and the preservation letter at the same time when things are urgent.

Drafting the Subpoena

The type of subpoena you need is a subpoena duces tecum, which compels production of documents, electronically stored information, or tangible items. Rule 45 requires the subpoena to specify the time and place for compliance and to describe what must be produced with enough detail that the recipient knows exactly what to look for.¹

Vague descriptions are the most common drafting mistake. A demand for “all surveillance footage from your property” will draw an objection. Specify the camera location (“the exterior camera facing the southeast corner of the parking lot at 450 Main Street”), the date range (“November 14, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.”), and the recording format you need. Precise requests are harder to object to.

Specify the Digital Format

Video footage is electronically stored information, and how it gets produced matters. A still image printed from a video frame is not the same as the original recording with full resolution, audio, and timestamp metadata. The subpoena should explicitly request footage in its native digital format with all metadata intact: the original file type (MP4, AVI, proprietary DVR format), embedded timestamps, and any associated audio tracks.

If you do not specify, the records holder may produce whatever is easiest for them, which might be a low-resolution export or a handful of screenshots. Spell it out: production in the original recording format, on external media or via secure file transfer, with metadata preserved. If the footage sits on a proprietary DVR, request the viewer software as well, since some systems encode video in formats that need specialized playback tools.

Geographic Limits

Federal subpoenas have a geographic reach limitation. Under Rule 45(c), you can compel a nonparty to produce documents or attend a proceeding only within 100 miles of where that person resides, works, or regularly does business.¹ For footage held by a business, the subpoena typically must be issued from a court in the district where the business is located. If you are litigating in a different district, you may need to issue the subpoena from the district court closest to the records holder.

Filing and Serving It

Submit the subpoena to the court clerk for issuance. The clerk stamps it with the court’s seal. Filing fees are usually modest, often under $10 for a document subpoena, though they vary by jurisdiction.

Service is where procedural rules get strict. Under Rule 45(b)(1), a subpoena must be personally delivered to the named recipient by someone who is at least 18 and not a party to the case.¹ You cannot serve it yourself if you are a plaintiff or defendant. Most people hire a professional process server. Fees generally run $40 to $100 for a standard serve, more for rush or same-day.

Witness Fees

When the subpoena requires a person’s attendance, you must tender one day’s attendance fee and mileage at the time of service. The federal attendance fee is $40 per day under 28 U.S.C. § 1821.² Mileage follows the General Services Administration rate, which is $0.725 per mile as of January 2026.³ For a subpoena that only requests document production without requiring anyone to appear in person, many courts do not require the attendance fee, but check local rules.

Proof of Service and Timing

After delivery, the server files a proof of service with the court. Rule 45 requires a certified statement showing the date and manner of service and the names of those served.¹ Without that filing, enforcement gets harder because the court has no record of valid service.

Give the records holder reasonable time to comply. Rule 45 does not set a rigid minimum, but courts expect enough lead time for the recipient to locate, copy, and deliver the footage or to raise objections. In practice, serving at least 14 days before the compliance deadline is considered reasonable for document production. Serving the day before and demanding same-day compliance is a good way to get the subpoena quashed.

Objections You Should Expect

The records holder has the right to push back. Rule 45(d) allows a court to quash or modify a subpoena that subjects someone to undue burden.¹ Most objections to video subpoenas fall into a few categories.

Overbreadth. Requests covering too many cameras, over too long a period, get narrowed. Tight date and time ranges prevent this.
Undue burden. Extracting footage from older or proprietary systems can be expensive. Courts may limit what a small business must produce or shift some extraction costs to you.
Privacy. When footage captures uninvolved people in sensitive situations, courts may require redaction of faces or other identifying features. Medical facilities, schools, and residential buildings raise heightened concerns.
Confidentiality. The holder may seek a protective order limiting who sees the footage and how it can be used.

If you get an objection, negotiate first. Narrowing the date range by an hour or agreeing to a protective order often resolves things without court intervention. When negotiation fails, file a motion to compel and let the court decide. Courts weigh the footage’s importance against the burden on the holder.

Who Pays for Extraction

Rule 45 requires the party issuing a subpoena to avoid imposing undue burden or expense on the recipient, and courts must protect nonparties from significant expense resulting from compliance.¹ In practice, you may cover the holder’s reasonable costs of extracting and copying the footage. A USB drive export from a modern system costs almost nothing. Footage trapped on an aging DVR that needs a technician can run into hundreds of dollars.

Budget for these costs when planning the subpoena. If a quoted amount seems inflated, challenge it with the court. Resisting cost-sharing on principle tends to slow things down and hands the holder ammunition for an undue-burden objection. Pay reasonable extraction costs promptly and keep the process moving.

When They Ignore the Subpoena

If a properly served records holder just ignores the subpoena, Rule 45(g) gives the court authority to hold that person in contempt.¹ Courts expect you to try less aggressive steps first.

Start with a follow-up. Sometimes a subpoena gets routed to the wrong person, or IT needs more time. A phone call or letter reminding the holder of the deadline and the consequences of ignoring a court order resolves many situations. If that fails, file a motion to compel production. The court will confirm the subpoena was properly served and order compliance if the footage is relevant and the request is reasonable.

If the holder defies a court order to produce, contempt sanctions follow. These can include fines, attorney’s fees, and in extreme cases, jail time. The threat alone usually gets results once a motion to compel has been granted.

State Court Rules Will Differ

Most cases involving surveillance footage, including car accidents, slip-and-falls, and property crimes, end up in state court. Every state has its own subpoena rules, and while they broadly mirror the federal framework, the details differ. Service requirements, notice periods, geographic limits, and fee schedules all vary. Some states allow service by mail or electronically. Others require personal delivery just like the federal rules.

If your case is in state court, check your state’s rules of civil procedure for the equivalent of Rule 45. The core concepts hold: you need a pending case, you must describe the footage specifically, you must serve the subpoena properly, and the recipient can object. The deadlines, fees, and enforcement mechanisms follow state rules rather than the federal ones. An attorney familiar with your local court’s procedures can save significant time navigating the differences.

1
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 45
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1821 – Per Diem and Mileage Generally
3
General Services Administration. Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Mileage Reimbursement Rates