The Business Records Exception to the Hearsay Rule - New is Not Necessarily Better

Abstract

Courts are rarely careful or analytical when dealing with the business records exception. They seem to gloss over difficulties that would arise from a more faithful application of the exception's requirements and intuitively admit documents they deem trustworthy. As a result, courts have injected a degree of confusion into an area that should be relatively clear. To eliminate this confusion, courts should not only spell out the criteria that must be met in order to satisfy each foundation requirement, but they should be more analytical and precise in applying them.

Keywords: hearsay rule, business records exception, the Model Act, Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 803(6), Uniform Business Records Evidence Act, UBRE