Tag: hearsay

Craigslist Ad = Improper Hearsay Evidence at Bike Theft Trial

bikeIn re Jovan A, 2014 IL App (1st) 103835, poses the question of whether the content of a craiglist.org advertisement (the “craiglist Ad” or “Ad”) is admissible under the hearsay exception for showing what steps police took in the course of investigating a crime.  The First District answered “no”; it’s not admissible.

The State charged the defendant with stealing a bike off the back of a parked car in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood.  The bike belonged to the car owner’s friend.  Later that same night, the car owner visited the craigslist.org site and saw a bike for sale that looked just like her friend’s stolen bike.  The Ad also directed the viewer to call a phone number if interested in buying the bike.  The car owner printed the Ad, cross-referenced it to find an address associated with the phone number and gave it to her detective friend, who then started an investigation.

The detective eventually located a person he believed to be defendant (based on car registration data), called the number on the Ad, and the defendant’s cell phone rang.  Defendant was arrested and charged with theft of property over $300. 720 ILCS 5/16-1(a)(1) (criminal theft statute).  At trial, the detective, the car owner (off whose car the bike was stolen) and two other witnesses testified against the defendant.  The detective and car owner both testified as to the contents of the craiglist Ad over defendant’s hearsay objection.  After a bench trial, the defendant was sentenced to 18 months probation for stealing the bike.  Defendant appealed.

Held: Trial court reversed.  The craiglist Ad is inadmissible hearsay.

Reasoning:

The craigslist Ad was the key piece of evidence relied on by the trial court when it found defendant guilty of stealing the triathlon bike.  The First District reversed the trial court because the Ad was hearsay evidence and didn’t satisfy any exceptions.

Hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered in court to prove the truth of the matter asserted. IRE 801-807.  Hearsay is generally disallowed because it is “no better than rumor or gossip” and can’t be tested by cross-examination.  U.S. v. Boyce, No. 13-1087 (7th Cir. 2014). 

Hearsay includes both oral and written statements (and sometimes non-verbal conduct) and encompasses matters directly asserted as well as matters implied by the declarant (the person making the out-of-court statement). 

Hearsay is inadmissible unless it falls within an exception to the rule.  In the criminal context, a hearsay exception exists where a law enforcement member testifies concerning out-of-court information he read, heard, or saw during the course of an investigation to explain why he arrested a defendant or took other action.  

This testimony is not hearsay because it is offered to show the steps the officer took in his criminal investigation; not for the truth of the matter asserted. Id.   Under the course-of-investigation exception to the hearsay rule, an officer’s testimony is limited to what is necessary to explain his actions.  Beyond that, he can’t testify to the content of any statements he received in the course of the investigation.  Jovan, ¶¶ 23-28.

The challenged hearsay statements allowed in at trial were (1) the car owner’s and (2) detective’s description of the craiglist Ad’s written text and (3) their separate recitation of the Ad’s phone number and how that number led to defendant’s apprehension.  The trial court admitted this testimony not for its truth, but to show the course of the bike theft investigation and the steps taken to arrest the defendant.

The First District held that the trial court improperly allowed the testimony concerning the Ad’s content in evidence.   Ruling that the in-the-course-of-investigation exception didn’t apply, the Court pointed out that the car owner was not a member of law enforcement but was instead a lay person.  As a result, her trial testimony about what the Ad said exceeded the limits of the exception.

The Court also found the detective’s testimony exceeded the scope of the course of investigation hearsay rule.  He testified that he relied on the Ad to locate the subject bike and used the Ad’s phone number to connect that number to the defendant.  The detective should have stopped there (since that testimony satisfied the exception).

But he went further: he also testified that his friend (the car owner) told him that the bike was being sold on craiglist, that he called the number on the Ad and that defendant’s cell phone rang when he called.  The detective violated the hearsay rule by relying on the out-of-court statements – namely, the car owner’s description of the Ad and the phone number and picture featured on the Ad.  The Court found that the Ad’s specifics were improper hearsay and should have been excluded by the trial court.

Afterword:

Jovan is interesting for its discussion of an atypical hearsay exception (at least in the civil litigation context).  The  course-of-investigation hearsay exception is broad but not without limits. Curiously, the State didn’t use the actual craiglist Ad at trial.

I was left wondering why it didn’t try to get the Ad into evidence under IRE 902’s self-authenticating rules for newspapers and periodicals.  I would think craiglist is enough of a ‘Net household name – and similar enough to a generally circulated “newspaper” – that a print-out from the site would be  sufficiently trustworthy to be utilized at trial.  Jovan is also unique in the sense that the First District acknowledges that there was enough circumstantial evidence – aside from  the craiglist Ad – to convict the defendant.

Even so, since the trial court relied so heavily on out-of-court evidence (the Ad), the conviction was reversed.

Contractor Invoices Not Hearsay Where Offered to Show “Effect On Recipient”

In In re 3RC Mechanical & Contracting Services, LLC v. Climatemp, Inc., 2013 WL 6172673 (N.D.Ill. 2013), the Debtor’s trustee sued the defendant for breach of a construction contract.

The defendant moved for summary judgment and supported the motion with its project manager’s affidavit and over 30 exhibits  – mainly invoices and bills.  The Trustee moved to strike about half of the exhibits on hearsay grounds.

Ruling: Motion denied.  

 

Key Rules:

– summary judgment evidence (either for or against) must be admissible at trial;

– copies of documents can’t simply be “slapped on the back of a party’s statement of facts or its response” with a statement that the documents are “true and correct”;

– a summary judgment affidavit which refers to documents must lay the necessary foundation for those documents;

– ‘hearsay within hearsay’ is not admissible unless each layer of hearsay is properly admitted under a hearsay exception;

– documents generated by third parties can sometimes qualify as admissible business records where they are integrated into the proponent’s own business records and the business relies on those third party records**;

– a statement is hearsay only if offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted;

– a statement isn’t hearsay if it’s offered to show its effect on the witness;

– out-of-court invoices are not hearsay where they are offered to show their amount only (not for their contents’ truth)

¶¶ 2-3; FRE 801(c)(2), 803(6).

Applying these rules, the Court found that the bills and invoices appended to the defendant’s affidavit were not offered for their truth.  That is, the contractor didn’t offer the invoices to prove to the court that the third party vendors and contractors actually performed the work contained on the invoices. 

Instead, the invoices were offered to show their effect on the project manager and to illustrate why he charged certain the amounts in question.

The invoices substantiated the affidavit testimony that the defendant had to hire substitute subcontractors after the Debtor failed to perform and went out of business.  ¶¶ 2-3.

The Court also emphasized that the project manager had hands-on involvement with the projects in question and spoke from personal knowledge about what work was was completed on the jobs.  ¶ 3.

Comments: The hearsay (offered for the truth) vs. non-hearsay (to show effect on listener/witness) distinction is a fine-line one.  The effect-on-the-listener/witness rule seems amorphous in that whenever someone attaches a third party’s records to an affidavit, all he has to argue is that the invoices are offered purely to show there impact on the listener/witness.  

The evidence rules laid out in this case should prove helpful to business litigants who are trying to get a third party’s records before a court or jury over a hearsay objection.

 

Finance Company’s Affidavit In Summary Judgment Motion Fails Business Records Test – IL ND

In NRRM, LLC v. Mepco Finance Corp., 2013 WL 4537391 (N.D.Ill. 2013), the Northern District of Illinois denied a finance company’s summary judgment motion in a breach of contract suit against an automobile  warranty provider. 

The finance company plaintiff sued the car warranty provider (warrantor) for breach of contract, claiming it failed to reimburse the plaintiff for various warranty claim losses.

The finance company moved for summary judgment on its breach of contract claim and supported its motion with its business analyst’s declaration.

Disposition: Motion for summary judgment denied.  

Reasoning:

To prove breach of contract under Illinois law, a plaintiff must show (1) the existence of a valid contract, (2) substantial performance by the plaintiff, (3) breach by the defendant and (4) resultant damages.  

The business analyst stated in his declaration that the defendant owed over $5M in reimbursement payments.  He declared he was familiar with plaintiff’s business practices and that his damage calculation was based on a review of the company’s business records.  *3-4.

Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6) – The Business Records Exception

The Court ruled that the plaintiff’s declaration and its underlying business records were inadmissible hearsay.

The business records exception to the hearsay rule- codified in FRE 803(6) –  is based on the theory that business records are generally trustworthy and their risk of fabrication low.  The party offering business records in support of its claim must lay a foundation for the records and establish their reliability. 

To establish business record foundation at summary judgment, the record’s proponent must supply an affidavit (or declaration) signed by someone qualified to introduce the record at trial (i.e. a records custodian).  

FRE 803(6) allows into evidence a  “record of an act, event, condition, opinion or diagnosis if”: (1) the record was made at or near the time by someone with knowledge (or from information transmitted by someone with knowledge); (2) the record was kept in the course of regularly conducted activity of a business, (3) making the record was a regular practice of that activity; and (4) all these conditions are shown by the testimony of a custodian or other qualified witness, or by certification that complies with FRE 902(11), (12).  (*4-5)

While the plaintiff’s analyst did parrot the the business records rule elements in his declaration, this wasn’t enough.

He didn’t establish that the records were made at or near the time of the event by someone with knowledge of the event or that making the record was the finance company’s regular practice.  

And since the declaration and business records constituted plaintiffs’ only evidence on the breach and damages elements of its contract claim, the Court denied plaintiff’s summary judgment motion.   *5-6.

Notes: It’s an understatement to say that getting key documents into evidence during a breach of contract trial is critical.  Trial success or defeat often hinges on whether a litigant successfully gets business records into evidence over a hearsay or foundation objection.  Same goes for summary judgment practice; especially in Federal court.