Opinion ID: 702362
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admission of September 15 Paycheck and Payroll Documents

Text: 13 Firemen's Fund introduced, and the court admitted, a paycheck issued to Benedict for the pay period of September 2 to September 15 and supporting documents as evidence that he was a Mid-Plains employee at the time of his death. The Benedicts argue that the paycheck and supporting documents were not admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. We disagree. 14 Rule 803(6) of the Federal Rules of Evidence states, in relevant part, that: 15 A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, 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 the testimony of the custodial or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. 16 Fed.R.Evid. 803(6). Firemen's Fund introduced the paycheck and supporting documents, reflecting tax withholdings, during the direct examination of the secretary, Julie Guichot, responsible for recording employees' hours worked. Further foundation was established during the direct examination of the payroll administrator, Robyn Seabolt, who, upon communication of the time worked by employees from Guichot, issued paychecks and generated backup records for the payroll. Both Guichot and Seabolt testified that they had received no notification, oral or written, of any change in Benedict's employment status until his death: the final paycheck was issued payable to the Estate of Charles Robert Benedict. 17 The paycheck and supporting documents were issued in the regular course of business by the people who ordinarily issued them. Guichot ordinarily compiled records of time worked by Mid-Plains employees, and ordinarily communicated this first-hand information to Seabolt, who issued paychecks. Both of them testified regarding the paycheck and supporting documents, and both of them testified that they had received no notification that Benedict was no longer employed by Mid-Plains. 3 Had Benedict been laid off by Mid-Plains prior to the accident, it is reasonable to believe that Guichot or Seabolt would have been notified, as they ordinarily were in the case of firing or lay-off, as the people responsible for payroll records. 4 18 The paycheck and supporting documents clearly fall within the exception to the hearsay rule stated in Rule 803(6), and the Benedicts' arguments to the contrary go not to the admissibility of the evidence, but to the credibility of the witnesses: evidence that the Benedicts were free to present to the jury through cross-examination. We find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the paycheck and supporting documents.