Tag: business record

Evidence Rules Interplay – Authenticating Facebook Posts and YouTube Videos

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 a jury’s conviction of two defendants based in part on inflammatory, jihad-inspired Facebook posts and YouTube training videos attributed to them.

The Court first held that the threshold showing for authenticity under Rule 901 is low.  All that’s required is the offering party must make a prima facie showing that the evidence is what the party claims it is.  FRE 901(a).  In the context of business records, Rule 902(11) self-authenticates these records where they satisfy the strictures of Rule 803(6) based on a custodian’s certification.  Rule 803(6), in turn, requires the offering party to establish that (a) the records were made at or near the time (of the recorded activity) by – or from information transmitted by  – someone with knowledge, (b) that the records were “kept in the course of a regularly conducted activity or business”; and (c) that making the records was a regular practice of the business. FRE 803(6)(a)-(c).

Applying these rules, the Court held that certifications from Google’s and Facebook’s records custodians established the foundation for the Facebook “wall” posts and YouTube terror training videos.  In addition, the Court found that the prosecution sufficiently connected the two conspiracy defendants to the Facebook posts and YouTube videos by tracing them to internet protocol addresses that linked both defendants to the particular Facebook and YouTube accounts that generated the posts.

Notes: For a more detailed discussion of Hassan as well as an excellent resource on social media evidence developments, see the Federal Evidence Review (http://federalevidence.com/blog/2014/february/authenticating-facebook-and-google-records)

 

Facebook Posts Not Hearsay Where Offered To Show How Ex-Wife Presented Relationship To Others – Illinois Case Note

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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 to terminate maintenance payments to his ex-wife (“Wife”) based on her multiple Facebook posts that she was in a relationship and (presumably) living with another man.  Illinois divorce law posits that maintenance payments must cease when the recipient remarries or cohabitates with another on a continuing basis.

Since the Facebook posts revealed the Wife frequently trumpeting her new relationship, the court found that the policies behind maintenance payments would be compromised by allowing the Wife to continue receiving payments from Husband.

The Wife appealed, arguing that the trial court shouldn’t have allowed her Facebook posts into evidence.

Held: Reversed (but on other grounds).  Wife’s social media posts were properly authenticated, not hearsay and any prejudice to her didn’t substantially outweigh the posts’ probative value.

Rules/reasoning:

– To enter a document into evidence at trial or on summary judgment, the offering party must lay a foundation for it;

– The party offering the document into evidence – including a document to impeach (contradict) a witness on the stand – must authenticate the document through the testimony of a witness who has personal knowledge sufficient to satisfy the court that the document is what the proponent claim it is;

– To lay a foundation for an out-of-court statement (including a document), the party attempting to get the statement into evidence must direct the witness to the time, place, circumstances and substance of the statement;

– Hearsay is a statement, other than made by the declarant while testifying at trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted;

– When the making of statement is the significant fact, hearsay isn’t involved (ex: the mere fact that a conversation took place isn’t hearsay);

Here, the court found that the Facebook posts weren’t offered for their truth.  Instead, they were offered to illustrate the way the Wife was portraying her current relationship to others.  The court deemed the posts relevant to the issue of how “public” or “out in the open” the Wife was about the relationship. 

And since the Husband didn’t offer the posts for the truth of their contents (that Wife was in fact living with someone and so disqualified from further maintenance payments) but instead to show the court the manner in which the Wife presented the relationship to others, the court properly allowed the posts into evidence.

The Second District also agreed with the trial court that the posts didn’t unfairly prejudice the Wife.  Indeed, the court characterized the posts as “bland”, “cumulative” and less effective than the parties’ live testimony.

(¶¶ 33-38)

The Wife still won though as the appeals court reversed the trial court’s decision to terminate Husband’s maintenance obligations.  The court found that more evidence was needed on the specifics of the Wife’s existing relationship including whether it was continuing and conjugal enough to constitute a “de facto marriage” (as opposed to a “dating” relationship only) and thus exclude the Wife from further maintenance payments from Husband.

Take-aways:

Hearsay doesn’t apply where out-of-court statement has independent legal significance;

Facebook posts authored by a party to lawsuit will likely get into evidence unless their prejudice outweighs their probative value;

Where social media posts are authored by third parties, it injects another layer of hearsay into the evidence equation and makes it harder to get the posts admitted at trial.

Illinois Evidence and Business Records: Injured Worker’s Insurance Claim Properly Admitted At Trial

 

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The plaintiff filed a wrongful discharge suit against his employer when he was fired after he lodged a workers’ comp claim for a work-related injury.  A jury sided with the plaintiff and awarded him about $4.2M including some $3.6M in punitive damages. The employer appealed on the basis that the court allowed some damaging documents into evidence at trial.

Affirming the jury verdict, the court in Holland v. Schwan’s Home Service, Inc., 2013 IL App (5th) 110560 answered some important questions concerning the reach of the attorney-client privilege, the contours of the work-product doctrine and the application of the business records hearsay exception to an insurance claim file.

The plaintiff’s insurance claim file ( the “Claim File”), a document authored by both the defendant’s insurer and its third-party claims administrator, was a key piece of evidence relied on by the plaintiff at trial.  The employer argued that the file (which contained some damaging admissions by the employer and the administrator) was privileged and should have been excluded at trial.

The Fifth District disagreed and stated the applicable evidence rules that controlled the Claim File’s admission:

– business records are admitted into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule under Supreme Court Rule 236 and the Illinois Evidence Rule 803(6) (see earlier posts for foundation requirements) ;

– the rationale for allowing out-of-court business documents (e.g. invoices, ledgers, etc.) into evidence is the belief that businesses are motivated to keep accurate records;

– because accurate record-keeping is so crucial, business records are cloaked with a level of trustworthiness that doesn’t apply to non-business records;

– a document made in anticipation of litigation is not admissible as a hearsay exception since it doesn’t contain the built-in level of trustworthiness that ordinary business records do;

– the “in anticipation of litigation” rule doesn’t apply where the challenged document is sought to be introduced against the party that prepared it (as opposed to being used in support of a summary judgment motion, for example)

– an employee’s statement is admissible against his corporate employer where (a) it’s made during the existence of the employment relationship; and (b) concerns a matter within the scope of the employment;

– statements made by a party’s agent about a matter within the scope of his agency are binding on the principal;

– The attorney-client privilege (A/C Privilege) is designed to promote and encourage open dialogue between an attorney and client;

– the A/C Privilege extends to communications between an insured and its insurer where statements made to an insurer are relayed to an attorney for the protection or defense of the insured;

– where a communication is made to an insurer for the dominant purpose of transmitting the information to an attorney for the protection of the insured’s interest, the insurer-insured privilege applies;

– the work-product doctrine offers separate and distinct protection from the A/C Privilege;

– work-product means material prepared by or for a party in preparation for trial and discloses the theories, mental impressions or litigation plans of the attorney;

– relevant information that doesn’t disclose an attorney’s “conceptual data” is freely discoverable.

(¶¶ 186-206); SCR 201(b)(2)

Under these guideposts, the Fifth District found that the Claim File was properly admitted in evidence at trial over the defendant’s A-C privilege, work-product and “in anticipation of litigation” objections.

First, there was no record that the Claim File was prepared for the “dominant purpose” of transmitting it to an attorney in order to protect the insured’s interests.  Instead, it was a general business record that consisted of basic information about the plaintiff’s medical condition.

The court found that the plain text of the Claim File and accompanying notes from the adjuster showed that the File was made in the regular course of the insurer’s business and wasn’t created for the purpose of defending the plaintiff’s retaliatory discharge claim.  As a result, no attorney-client or work-product protection attached to the Claim File. (¶¶ 201-202).

Take-aways: the attorney-client privilege applies to insurer-insured communications.  Especially if the main purpose of those communications is to protect the insured in a potential lawsuit.  In addition, a document prepared in the regular course of business, by definition, will almost always not be protected as a document prepared in anticipation of litigation.  Also, a document that doesn’t contain mental impressions or legal theories and strategy will likely be viewed as a general business record and won’t garner attorney-client or work-product doctrine protection.