Source: https://www.evanmrosen.com/blog/category/foreclosure-defense/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 22:24:10+00:00

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Yet Another Example of Special Laws for the Banks!
October 15, 2015 | by The Law Offices of Evan M. Rosen, P.A.
If you’ve watched any courtroom drama movie or TV show, chances are you’ve probably seen a lawyer stand up and say, “Objection, hearsay!” Hearsay is an oral or written statement, as well as some “non-verbal conduct,” made out of the courtroom, being offered to prove the truth of what was expressed. Hearsay is generally not admissible but, like almost everything else in law, there are exceptions. One of those exceptions is for out of court written statements that are “business records.” The generally accepted idea behind the exception is that true business records are “relied upon by a business in the conduct of its daily affairs and the records are customarily checked for correctness during the course of the business activities.” C. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence §803.6 (2015 Edition). As is often said, they have the “indicia” of reliability.
Until recently, the law on this issue was straightforward in Florida, with good guidance from the several cases around the state. The seminal case was from the Supreme Court of Florida, Yisrael v. State, 993 So.2d 952 (Fla. 2008). In Yisrael, our state’s highest court enumerated three ways one can get a business record into evidence. The “traditional route… requires that a records custodian take the stand and testify under oath as to the predicate requirements.” Id. Those requirements are that “(1) the record was made at or near the time of the event; (2) was made by or from information transmitted by a person with knowledge; (3) was kept in the ordinary course of a regularly conducted business activity; and (4) that it was a regular practice of that business to make such a record.” Id. Prior to the foreclosure crisis, the law has also been very clear that every witness, who is not testifying as an expert, can only testify as to matters on which they have “personal knowledge,” as per Florida Statute §90.604. That is, their “testimony must be based on matters perceived by the senses of the witness.” C. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence §604.1 (2015 Edition).
Then, on January 7, 2015, the Fourth District Court of Appeal issued Bank of New York v. Calloway, 157 So.3d 1064 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). In Calloway, the Court held that “[w]here a business takes custody of another business’s records and integrates them within its own records, the acquired records are treated as having been ‘made’ by the successor business, such that both records constitute the successor business’s singular “business record.” Id. Citing to United States v. Adefehinti, 510 F.3d 319, 326 (D.C.Cir.2007), as amended (Feb. 13, 2008). Apparently the Fourth District is saying that the four prongs enumerated by the Florida Legislature and restated by the Supreme Court of Florida in Yisrael v. State, 993 So.2d 952 (Fla. 2008), as well as the personal knowledge requirement of Florida Statute §90.604 are no longer needed because the bank “confirmed the trustworthiness” when it ” ‘reviewed’.. the pay histories ‘for accuracy.’ “Calloway, 157 So.3d 1064 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015).

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