Federal Rule of Evidence 803(17) provides a hearsay exception for: (17) Market reports, commercial publications. Market quotations, tabulations, lists, directories, or other published compilations, generally used and relied upon by the public or by persons in particular occupations. In United States v. ...

From Spool v. World Child Int’l Adoption Agency, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 5691 (2d Cir. March 18, 2008): Since the Supreme Court decided H.J. Inc., we have "never held a period of less than two years to constitute a 'substantial period of time.'" Cofacredit, 187 F.3d at 242. This conception of the substantiality requirement ...

Under Rule 902(5) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, official publications of government offices, including their websites, are self-authenticating. (Cases are collected in the article entitled Internet and Email Evidence on the Recent Articles page.) The Ohio Court of Appeals came to the same conclusion under Ohio Rule of Evidence 902(5) in Harvard Mort. ...

The E-Government Act of 2002 requires publication of all opinions. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 allows appellate opinions issued since its adoption to be cited. Yet opinions, district and appellate, continue to be issued bearing the label “unpublished.” Literally false, what does that mean? One District Judge’s meaning, from J.P. Morgan Tru ...

The lawsuit Kenney, Becker LLP v. Kenney, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19795 (S.D.N.Y. March 6, 2008), was placed on the suspense calendar when the parties were ordered to arbitration. Unknown to the defendant or the arbitrator, plaintiffs’ counsel unilaterally issued a subpoena using the caption of the federal action to compel the defendant’s bank to appear wi ...

The Supreme Court decided Stoneridge in favor of the defendants, and, on remand, the defense affirmatively waived any Rule 11 sanctions and asked that judgment be entered in their favor. Stoneridge Inv. Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 5418 (8th Cir. March 3, 2008). One hiccup: The mandatory sanctions review required ...

From United States .v Nacchio, No. 07-1311 (10th Cir. March 17, 2008): 1. Expert Disclosure under Criminal Rule 16 Is Narrower than Civil Expert Discovery under Rule 26(a)(2)(B). “The district court’s error may have proceeded from confusion between the civil and criminal rules. Unlike under the civil rules, an expert in a ...

Kennedy v. Joy Techs., Inc., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 5396 (4th Cir. March 12, 2008) (unpublished) summarizes caselaw holding that Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(C) places the burden on the opponent of admissibility of an official record to establish its lack of trustworthiness, absent which admissibility is presumed. The opinion also usefully identifies the s ...

The owner of the defendant, testifying at his deposition, was unspeakably profane and abusive in GMAC Bank v. HTFC Corp., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15878 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 29, 2008). As summarized by the District Court: Throughout his deposition, Wider sought to intimidate opposing counsel by maintaining a persistently hostile demeanor, employi ...

Today is the seventh anniversary of the Firm. Again, as on each prior anniversary, the City of New York is staging a parade on Fifth Avenue. ...