Paul Porvaznik – Business Litigator
Case Notes and Summaries of Recent Cases (State and Federal Courts – Illinois Focus)
Evidence Rules 901, 803 and 902 respectively govern authentication generally, the foundation rules for business records, and “self-authenticating” documents at trial. The Fourth Circuit recently examined the interplay between these rules in the context of a Federal conspiracy trial. In United States v. Hassan, 742 F.3d 104 (4th Cir. Feb. 4, 2014), the Fourth Circuit affirmed …
Continue reading “Evidence Rules Interplay – Authenticating Facebook Posts and YouTube Videos”
Reversing a family law judge’s decision to terminate ex-spousal maintenance, the Second District appeals court in In re Marriage of Miller, 2015 IL App(2d) 140530 delves into the foundation requirements for getting Facebook pages into evidence and again highlights the crucial role social media plays in litigation in this digitally saturated culture. The trial court granted the ex-husband (“Husband”) motion …
In a prior post (http://paulporvaznik.com/tag/retaining-lien), I discussed the common law retaining lien, which allows an attorney to keep a client’s papers and property as security for the payment of past due fees. Another legal device at a lawyer’s disposal to encourage payment is the statutory attorneys’ lien, codified in Illinois at 770 ILCS 5/1. Grane …