Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Judicial Notice of Internet Evidence — Google Maps: Distances May Be Judicially Noticed, But Are Estimated Travel Times Hearsay?

Guzman v. Mel S. Harris & Assocs., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49622 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 22, 2018):

Plaintiff cites Google Maps webpages that show the distances between locations listed, of which courts may take judicial notice. See In re Propranolol Antitrust Litig., 249 F. Supp. 3d 712, 731 n.27 (S.D.N.Y. 2017) (taking judicial notice of distances on Google Maps, and noting "[c]ourts commonly use internet mapping tools to take judicial notice of distance and geography"); see also United States v. Magda, 547 F.2d 756, 764 n.16 (2d Cir. 1976) (taking judicial notice of the distance from a park to an office building). The Samserv Defendants assert that the estimated travel times on the Google Maps webpages are inadmissible hearsay (Samserv Defs. Mem. in Opp'n, ECF No. 208, at 6-7), but Plaintiff may argue to a jury, based on the distances alone, that Andino could not have traveled between two locations in the times reflected in Samserv's database. Though the Samserv Defendants assert that the road conditions in 2017 may differ from those that existed in 2007, (see Samserv Defs. Reply Mem., ECF No. 218, at 8), this argument goes to the weight, rather than admissibility, of such evidence.

Share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Recent Posts

Archives