A paralegal is assisting an attorney with a civil lawsuit where the plaintiff suffered significant injuries in a slip-and-fall incident at a grocery store. The plaintiff's attorney plans to introduce a copy of the store's internal incident report, which details the fall and notes that a spill had been present for approximately 30 minutes prior. This report is routinely kept in the ordinary course of the store's business. Which exception to the hearsay rule would most likely permit the admission of this incident report?
- AStatement Against Interest (FRE 804(b)(3))
- BExcited Utterance (FRE 803(2))
- CBusiness Records Exception (FRE 803(6))
- DPresent Sense Impression (FRE 803(1))
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Business Records Exception (FRE 803(6))
The Business Records Exception (FRE 803(6)) allows for the admission of records of regularly conducted activity, provided the record was made at or near the time by — or from information transmitted by — someone with knowledge, kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and making the record was a regular practice of that activity. The store's internal incident report, routinely kept, fits these criteria.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Statement Against Interest requires the declarant to be unavailable and the statement to be so contrary to their interest that a reasonable person would not have made it unless true.
- B. Excited Utterance applies to statements made under the stress of excitement caused by a startling event, which doesn't fit a routine incident report.
- D. Present Sense Impression applies to statements describing an event while or immediately after perceiving it, not a routinely kept report.
Business Records Exception (FRE 803(6))
A hearsay exception allowing admission of a record of an act, event, condition, opinion, or diagnosis if it was made at or near the time by — or from information transmitted by — someone with knowledge, kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and making the record was a regular practice of that activity.
- Record of regularly conducted activity.
- Made at or near the time by someone with knowledge.
- Kept in the ordinary course of business.
- Regular practice of that activity.
- Trustworthiness is key.
Memory trick: Hearsay exceptions: when the story is old, but the purpose is bold.