The Vanishing Field Log

1. Shredded field log - spoliation. Contemporaneous notes are discoverable and are the single best tool for refreshing memory and defending accuracy. Destroying them after a report is drafted invites an adverse inference, sanctions, and the argument that the notes said something different from the report. It also leaves the investigator unable to answer "how do you know what time he left?"

2. Renamed photos with originals deleted - destroyed foundation. Authenticity depends on the ability to show the file is what it purports to be. Metadata (capture time, device, GPS coordinates) is the foundation. Renaming and deleting originals severs the link between the image and the moment, and hands opposing counsel a free cross-examination: "These aren't the original files, are they?"

3. "Jogged for 20 minutes" - a misstatement of fact in a report. The video shows brisk walking. A report that overstates what the video shows is a credibility catastrophe in front of an adjuster, a judge, and a jury - and a misrepresentation that can be disciplined. Every overstatement in an investigative report is a gift to the other side.

4. Billing that the underlying records cannot support - the most serious item. 61.5 hours with two short days and no field log to reconcile against is not a documentation gap; it is an allegation of fraud waiting to be made. Billing disputes cost agencies their carrier contracts and, in a bad case, produce a fraud referral and license discipline.

5. Delivery under an open question - sending the package now, before these items are resolved, converts an internal problem into a permanent record.

Correct both before the package leaves the office - and correct them visibly, never silently.

The jogging statement.

• Rewrite to what the video shows: "walked at a brisk pace while walking a dog for approximately 20 minutes, from 07:42 to 08:02."
• If the file is still in draft, fix it and issue a clean report. If it has already gone to the carrier, issue a written correction: "Correction to Report dated [x]: paragraph 4 should read ... The error was identified on internal review." A self-corrected error costs a small amount of credibility. An error discovered by opposing counsel costs the case.
• Do not characterize it as "close enough." It is the difference between a claimant capable of sustained aerobic activity and one walking a dog.

The hours.

• Reconstruct the time from whatever remains (video timestamps, drive records, call logs, the invoice) and bill the hours you can actually support.
• Reduce the invoice in writing, before the adjuster asks: "Revised invoice attached; two days were over-recorded by a total of X hours."
• Disclose to the qualifying licensee. The agency needs to know before the carrier does.

The principle: the report and the invoice are evidence. Neither can contain anything the file does not support, and the person who fixes it first is the professional; the person who gets caught is the defendant.

A file built to be handed to a stranger.

• Contemporaneous field log, in ink or time-stamped digitally, written at the site: date, weather, location, subject, vehicle, activity, times in and out, camera position. Not recreated later.
• Originals untouched. Original media in a write-only folder, never edited, never renamed, never deleted. Note the file names and, ideally, hash values in the log. All review, cropping, and enhancement happens on working copies, and the enhancement is disclosed.
• Chain of custody - who had the card, the drive, the originals, and when.
• A video/photo index: file name, date, time, duration, subject, activity, vantage point, distance.
• The report - factual, observation-only, no conclusions about disability or credibility, with every assertion traceable to a log entry or a file.
• The invoice, reconciled to the log line by line, with travel time identified separately.
• An index page so the adjuster and counsel can navigate it.
• Retention per agency policy and the carrier contract, with the file stored as a unit - never "cleaned up."

The test to apply before delivery: if opposing counsel read this file line by line in a deposition, would every line hold? That standard, applied at the time of the work rather than at the time of the lawsuit, is what separates a professional file from a liability.