Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/318/109/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:30:59+00:00

Document:
1. A signed statement of a railroad engineer, since deceased, giving his version of a grade crossing accident in which the locomotive he was operating was involved, and made two days after the accident, when he was interviewed by an official of the company and a representative of a state commission, held not made "in the regular course" of business within the meaning of the Act of June 20, 1936, and not admissible as evidence thereunder. P. 318 U. S. 111.
2. A ruling of the trial court that, if the defendant called for and inspected a signed statement which, on cross-examination, a witness for the plaintiff stated he had given to the plaintiff's lawyer, the plaintiff would then be entitled to put the statement in evidence, held not a ground for reversal in this case, since the document was not marked for identification and is not a part of the record, and this Court is therefore unable to determine whether the contents would have served to impeach the witness. P. 318 U. S. 116.
3. Rule 8(c) of the Rules of Civil Procedure does not make contributory negligence an affirmative defense, but relates only to the manner of pleading. P. 318 U. S. 117.
4. The question of the burden of establishing contributory negligence is a question of local law which federal courts in diversity of citizenship cases must apply. P. 318 U. S. 117.
5. The ruling of a lower federal court upon a question of local law will not here be set aside except on a plain showing of error. P. 318 U. S. 118.
erroneous, but being unable to say that the charge was incorrect so far as the statutory cause of action are concerned, does not reverse and remand the cause. P. 318 U. S. 119.
7. Where a party might have obtained a correct charge to the jury by specifically calling the attention of the trial court to the error, and where a part of the charge was correct, he may not through a general exception obtain a new trial. P. 318 U. S. 119.
Certiorari, 317 U.S. 611, to review the affirmance of a judgment against the petitioners in an action for damages on account of injury and death alleged to have been due to negligence. The jurisdiction of the federal court was invoked on the ground of diversity of citizenship.
verdict. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, one judge dissenting. 129 F.2d 976. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari which presents three points.
I. The accident occurred on the night of December 25, 1940. On December 27, 1940, the engineer of the train, who died before the trial, made a statement at a freight office of petitioners where he was interviewed by an assistant superintendent of the road and by a representative of the Massachusetts Public Utilities Commission. See Mass.Gen.L. (1932), c. 159, § 29. This statement was offered in evidence by petitioners under the Act of June 20, 1936, 49 Stat. 1561, 28 U.S.C. § 695. [Footnote 1] They offered to prove (in the language of the Act) that the statement was signed in the regular course of business, it being the regular course of such business to make such a statement. Respondent's objection to its introduction was sustained.
trustworthiness of records because they were routine reflections of the day to day operations of a business would be forgotten as the basis of the rule. See Conner v. Seattle, R. & S. Ry. Co., 56 Wash. 310, 312, 313, 105 P. 634. Regularity of preparation would become the test, rather than the character of the records and their earmarks of reliability (Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Co. v. United States, 250 U. S. 123, 250 U. S. 128-129) acquired from their source and origin and the nature of their compilation. We cannot so completely empty the words of the Act of their historic meaning. If the Act is to be extended to apply not only to a "regular course" of a business, but also to any "regular course" of conduct which may have some relationship to business, Congress, not this Court, must extend it. Such a major change which opens wide the door to avoidance of cross-examination should not be left to implication. Nor is it any answer to say that Congress has provided in the Act that the various circumstances of the making of the record should affect its weight, not its admissibility. That provision comes into play only in case the other requirements of the Act are met.
In short, it is manifest that, in this case, those reports are not for the systematic conduct of the enterprise as a railroad business. Unlike payrolls, accounts receivable, accounts payable, bills of lading, and the like, these reports are calculated for use essentially in the court, not in the business. Their primary utility is in litigating, not in railroading.
"Neither the report required by section 38 of this title nor any report of the investigation provided for in section 40 of this title nor any part thereof shall be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any suit or action for damages growing out of any matter mentioned in said report or investigation."
45 U.S.C. § 41. A similar provision, 36 Stat. 916, 54 Stat. 148, 45 U.S.C. § 33, bars the use in litigation of reports concerning accidents resulting from the failure of a locomotive boiler or its appurtenances. 45 U.S.C. §§ 32, 33. That legislation reveals an explicit Congressional policy to rule out reports of accidents which certainly have as great a claim to objectivity as the statement sought to be admitted in the present case. We can hardly suppose that Congress modified or qualified by implication these longstanding statutes when it permitted records made "in the regular course" of business to be introduced. Nor can we assume that Congress, having expressly prohibited the use of the company's reports on its accidents, impliedly altered that policy when it came to reports by its employees to their superiors. The inference is wholly the other way.
The several hundred years of history behind the Act (Wigmore, supra, §§ 1517-1520) indicate the nature of the reforms which it was designed to effect. It should, of course, be liberally interpreted so as to do away with the anachronistic rules which gave rise to its need and at which it was aimed. But "regular course" of business must find its meaning in the inherent nature of the business in question and in the methods systematically employed for the conduct of the business as a business.
II. One of respondent's witnesses testified on cross-examination that he had given a signed statement to one of respondent's lawyers. Counsel for petitioners asked to see it. The court ruled that, if he called for and inspected the document, the door would be opened for respondent to offer the statement in evidence, in which case the court would admit it. See Edison Electric Light Co. v. United States Electric Lighting Co., 45 F. 55, 59. Counsel for petitioners declined to inspect the statement, and took an exception. Petitioners contend that that ruling was reversible error in light of Rule 26(b) and Rule 34 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. We do not reach that question. Since the document was not marked for identification and is not a part of the record, we do not know what its contents are. It is therefore impossible, as stated by the court below, to determine whether the statement contained remarks which might serve to impeach the witness. Accordingly, we cannot say that the ruling was prejudicial even if we assume it was erroneous. Mere "technical errors" which do not "affect the substantial rights of the parties" are not sufficient to set aside a jury verdict in an appellate court. 40 Stat. 1181, 28 U.S.C. § 391. He who seeks to have a judgment set aside because of an erroneous ruling carries the burden of showing that prejudice resulted. That burden has not been maintained by petitioners.
requested the court to charge that the burden was on respondent. This was refused, and an exception noted.
Respondent contends, in the first place, that the charge was correct because of the fact that Rule 8(c) of the Rules of Civil Procedure makes contributory negligence an affirmative defense. We do not agree. Rule 8(c) covers only the manner of pleading. The question of the burden of establishing contributory negligence is a question of local law which federal courts, in diversity of citizenship cases (Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64), must apply. Cities Service Oil Co. v. Dunlap, 308 U. S. 208; Sampson v. Channell, 110 F.2d 754. And see Central Vermont Ry. Co. v. White, 238 U. S. 507, 238 U. S. 512.
"unless it is shown that, in addition to a mere want of ordinary care, the person injured . . . was at the time of the collision, guilty of gross or willful negligence, or was acting in violation of the law, and that such gross or willful negligence or unlawful act contributed to the injury."
Mass.Gen.L. (1932) c. 160, § 232. That statute, like the Ontario statute, creates rights not recognized at common law. Brooks v. Fitchburg & L.St. Ry., 200 Mass. 8, 86 N.E. 289; Duggan v. Bay State Street Ry. Co., 230 Mass. 370, 381, 382, 119 N.E. 757; Sullivan v. Hustis, 237 Mass. 441, 446, 130 N.E. 247; Lewis v. Boston & Maine R., 263 Mass. 87, 91, 160 N.E. 663. And in actions under it, the burden of proving contributory negligence is on the defendant. Manley v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 159 Mass. 493, 34 N.E. 951; Phelps v. New England R. Co., 172 Mass. 98, 51 N.E. 522; McDonald v. New York C. & H. R. Co., 186 Mass. 474, 72 N.E. 55; Kenny v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 188 Mass. 127, 74 N.E. 309. And see Mass.Gen.L. (1932) c. 231, § 85. Moreover, the measure of damages for death is "the sum of not less than five hundred nor more than ten thousand dollars, to be assessed with reference to the degree of culpability of the" railroad. Mass.Gen.L. (1932) c. 229, § 3. We are referred to no New York decision involving the point. The propriety of applying the rule of the Fitzpatrick case to the causes of action based on the Massachusetts statute may be arguable. But it is not the type of ruling under Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, supra, which we will readily disturb. Where the lower federal courts are applying local law, we will not set aside their ruling except on a plain showing of error.
type of case as in others. That rule cannot be avoided here by reason of the requested charge. For, as we have said, it was at most only partially correct, and was not sufficiently discriminating.
"In any court of the United States and in any court established by Act of Congress, any writing or record, whether, in the form of an entry in a book or otherwise, made as a memorandum or record of any act, transaction, occurrence, or event, shall be admissible as evidence of said act, transaction, occurrence, or event, if it shall appear that it was made in the regular course of any business, and that it was the regular course of such business to make such memorandum or record at the time of such act, transaction, occurrence, or event or within a reasonable time thereafter. All other circumstances of the making of such writing or record, including lack of personal knowledge by the entrant or maker, may be shown to affect its weight, but they shall not affect its admissibility. The term 'business' shall include business, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind."
"The routine of modern affairs, mercantile, financial, and industrial, is conducted with so extreme a division of labor that the transactions cannot be proved at first hand without the concurrence of persons, each of whom can contribute no more than a slight part, and that part not dependent on his memory of the event. Records, and records alone, are their adequate repository, and are in practice accepted as accurate upon the faith of the routine itself, and of the self-consistency of their contents. Unless they can be used in court without the task of calling those who at all stages had a part in the transactions recorded, nobody need ever pay a debt, if only his creditor does a large enough business."
"The old common law rule requires that every book entry be identified by the person making it. This is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, in the case of an institution employing a large bookkeeping staff, particularly when the entries are made by machine. In a recent criminal case, the Government was prevented from making out a prima facie case by a ruling that entries in the books of a bank, made in the regular course of business, were not admissible in evidence unless the specific bookkeeper who made the entry could identify it. Since the bank employed 18 bookkeepers, and the entries were made by bookkeeping machines, this was impossible."
S.Rep. No.1965, 74th Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 1-2.
It is clear that it does not come within the exceptions as to declarations by a deceased witness. See Shepard v. United States, 290 U. S. 96; Wigmore, supra, chs. xlix-liv.

References: § 29
 § 695
 v. 
 v. 
 § 41
 § 33
 v. 
 § 391
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 232
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 85
 § 3
 v. 
 v.