Opinion ID: 1394049
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of Home Study

Text: ADHS asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to admit the Colorado home study into evidence as a business record under Ark. R. Evid. 803(6) or as a public record or report under Ark. R. Evid. 803(8). We review evidentiary errors under the abuse-of-discretion standard. Parker v. State, 333 Ark. 137, 968 S.W.2d 592 (1998). The trial court has broad discretion in its evidentiary rulings; hence, the trial court's findings will not be disturbed on appeal unless there has been a manifest abuse of discretion. Id. At the December 6 hearing, ADHS attempted to introduce the home study, and Ms. Huff's counsel objected based on the fact that the person who prepared the report was not going to be available to testify and be cross-examined. ADHS argued that the report was admissible under either Rule 803(6) or 803(8). The hearsay exceptions in Rule 803 include an exception for business records: (6) Records of Regularly Conducted Business Activity. A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses [sic], made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. The term business as used in this paragraph includes business, institution, association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit. Ark. R. Evid. 803(6). This court has previously stated seven factors which must be present for the records to be admissible under Rule 803(6):(1) record or other compilation, (2) of acts or events, (3) made at or near the time the act occurred, (4) by a person with knowledge (or from information transmitted by such a person), (5) kept in the course of a regularly conducted business, (6) which has a regular practice of recording such information, (7) all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness. Cates v. State, 267 Ark. 726, 589 S.W.2d 598 (1979). Rule 803 also includes an exception for public records and reports. Under Ark. R. Evid. 803(8), records, reports, statements, or data compilations in any form of a public office or agency setting forth its regularly conducted and regularly recorded activities, ... or factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law are not excluded by the hearsay rule. However, the following are specifically excepted from the Rule and are considered to be hearsay: (ii) investigative reports prepared by or for a government, a public office, or an agency when offered by it in a case in which it is a party ... (v) any matter as to which the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness. Ark. R. Evid. 803(8). We need not, however, address whether the Colorado home study is a business record or a public record or report. The fact that a piece of evidence falls within an exception to the rule against hearsay does not equate to automatic admissibility. Lovell v. Beavers, 336 Ark. 551, 987 S.W.2d 660 (1999). To prevent possible prejudice or confusion, a trial court must still have the authority to exclude a record under Ark. R. Evid. 403. Id. Rule 403 provides: Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. Ark. R. Evid. 403. This court has held that the weighing under Rule 403 is left to the trial court's sound discretion and will not be reversed absent a showing of manifest abuse. Lovell v. Beavers, supra . We have quoted favorably from McCormick on Evidence § 293 (4th ed.1992): [W]here there are indications of lack of trustworthiness, which may result from a lack of expert qualification or from lack of factual support, exclusion is warranted under [Rule 803]. Moreover, inclusion of opinions or diagnoses within [Rule 803] only removes the bar of hearsay. In the absence of availability of the expert for explanation and cross-examination, the court may conclude that probative value of this evidence is outweighed by the danger that the jury will be misled or confused. This is of particular concern if the opinion involves difficult matters of interpretation and a central dispute in the case, such as causation. Under these circumstances, a court operating under the Federal Rules, like earlier courts, is likely to be reluctant to permit a decision to be made upon the basis of an un-cross-examined opinion and may require that the witness be produced. Lovell v. Beavers, 336 Ark. at 555, 987 S.W.2d at 662. Here, the trial court identified the problem with admissibility of the home study: we don't have that person here to cross-examine and evaluate as to all of their motives and their thinking ... you have to be able to weigh the credibility. Even prior to the enactment of the Arkansas Rules of Evidence, this court recognized the importance of cross-examination. In Arkansas Game & Fish Comm'n v. Kizer, 221 Ark. 347, 253 S.W.2d 215 (1952), this court held that landowners had a right to cross-examine the engineers who authored a survey regarding a lake at issue in the case. We said: In a judicial investigation the right of cross-examination is absolute, and not a mere privilege of the one against whom a witness may be called. In a civil action a party has the right to cross-examine witnesses against him whether the evidence is given ore tenus or by deposition. Id. at 351, 253 S.W.2d at 218. Similarly, in Trannum v. George, 211 Ark. 665, 201 S.W.2d 1015 (1947), where a narrative report composed by a welfare worker was offered as evidence in a child custody case, this court stated: Certainly the custody of a man's children ought not to be taken away from him on unsworn statements made out of court. Id. at 671, 201 S.W.2d at 1018. See also Roberts v. Roberts, 216 Ark. 453, 226 S.W.2d 579 (1950). The right of cross-examination is especially important in cases such as Trannum v. George where a fundamental liberty is at issue. The United States Supreme Court has commented on termination of parental rights: The fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child does not evaporate simply because they have not been model parents or have lost temporary custody of their child to the State. Even when blood relationships are strained, parents retain a vital interest in preventing the irretrievable destruction of their family life. If anything, persons faced with forced dissolution of their parental rights have a more critical need for procedural protections than do those resisting state intervention into ongoing family affairs. When the State moves to destroy weakened familial bonds, it must provide the parents with fundamentally fair procedures. Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 753-54, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982). In the case now before us, the central issue before the trial court was the potential termination of Ms. Huff's parental rights. A fundamental liberty interest was at issue, and the court concluded that introduction of the Colorado home study would be too prejudicial in the absence of someone who could be cross-examined as to its contents. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to admit the Colorado home study into evidence.