Opinion ID: 380460
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Admission of General Services Administration (GSA) Reports

Text: 77 In this portion of the appeal, we deal with appellant's objection to the admission of two letters from the GSA to the appellant, that were obtained from General through discovery. General complains that the letters were not authenticated, that there was no evidence as to the basis for the letters, and that the GSA is not authorized by law to determine whether an employer has violated Title VII. 78 The appellee claims the letters were admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 803(8) which provides in part: 79 The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness: . . . 80 (8) Public records and reports. Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form of public offices or agencies, setting forth (A) the activities of the office or agency, or (B) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report, . . . or (C) in civil actions and proceedings . . ., factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness. 81 As to the authenticity point, it is clear that the letters should have been authenticated under Fed.R.Evid. 901 and 902 which require authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility, except in specific situations, none of which is present here. See Rule 902. However, the defendant did not object at trial that these documents were not authenticated, but objected only on the grounds that the letters were hearsay and not relevant. This Court has held for some time that (e)xcept in unusual circumstances, the ground of objection to evidence must be specifically stated in order to preserve the point for appeal; . . . Carona v. Pioneer Life Insurance Company, 357 F.2d 477, 480 (5th Cir. 1966); Colonial Refrigerated Transportation, Inc. v. Mitchell, 403 F.2d 541, 552 (5th Cir. 1968); Morrow v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 541 F.2d 713 (8th Cir. 1976); see also F.R.C.P. Rule 46; Rule 103(a)(1), Federal Rules of Evidence. Since General did not make this specific objection, it cannot raise the authentication issue on appeal. 82 Turning then to General's arguments concerning relevancy and hearsay, under Fed.R.Evid. 803(8) the letters are admissible if they are made pursuant to duties derived from authority granted by law. The letters were prepared by the General Services Administration, according to the appellant, as part of its contract compliance review. 19 While this authorization to investigate obviously does not parallel the EEOC's authority under Title VII, the letters were admissible under Rule 803(8)(c) since the findings resulted from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law. It was certainly within the court's discretion to find that the letters were not untrustworthy. See Weinstein and Berger, Weinstein's Evidence § 803(8)(03) at 200-208 (1979). 20 83 VI. The Application Procedure and the Finding that Openings Existed for Which the Class Members were Qualified 84 In this portion of the appeal, the appellant urges that the trial judge improperly failed to require the class members to bear the burden of proving that they were qualified for an available opening. As a second point, General argues that the trial court improperly found that General's employment policy exacerbated the discrimination. 85 As noted earlier, we have already decided to remand the issue of the class action hiring claims to the district court for further findings of fact. Without those further findings of fact, it is impossible for us to rule on these issues. Any questions surrounding the application procedures and policy will have to wait for answers until the trial court has indicated more clearly why it found discrimination and why it defined the class in the way it did.