Opinion ID: 222737
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of Business Records

Text: Green appeals the district court's admission of certain loan documents under Federal Rule of Evidence 902(11). Rule 902(11) streamlines the admission of certain inherently reliable documents by allowing a party to introduce a record of regularly conducted activity without live testimony from a records custodian so long as the record is accompanied by a proper written certification from a custodian or otherwise qualified person. See Fed. R.Evid. 902(11). The Rule requires that the record be admissible under Rule 803(6), which creates a hearsay exception for business records and reports unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. Fed.R.Evid. 803(6). In advance of trial, the government filed notice of its intent to offer evidence pursuant to Rule 902(11). Green and his co-defendants objected, claiming that the records did not meet the Rule's requirements. Relevant to this appeal, they objected to the introduction of records certified by Charlene Batalla, a former employee of Equity Express mortgage brokerage firm, who was also a defendant in the scheme. They argued that Batalla, as a co-defendant, was not trustworthy as a custodian. In 2008, Batalla pled guilty to falsifying documents in the defendants' conspiracy. In 2009, Batalla certified as records made in the regular course of business the Equity Express loan files for five Chicago-area properties: 8544 South Givins Court, 1418 Portland Avenue, 155 East 153rd Street, 6851 South Prairie Avenue, and 1436 Parnell Avenue. Defendant Green was charged for his involvement in the purchases of the first four of those properties. At a pretrial conference, the district court reviewed the certificates and overruled the objection, finding the certificates to be sufficient under Rule 902(11). After severance, Green renewed his trustworthiness objection to the Batalla certification. At a second pretrial conference, Green's counsel further argued that he had a right to cross-examine Batalla about the fact that James Green didn't put any of this information on these papers. The government replied that if Batalla were to testify, she would answer only three questionsWere these documents created in the ordinary course, were they maintained, and were they created at or near the time of the documents?and that anything else regarding the documents would be outside the scope of her testimony. The district court again overruled the objection and admitted the documents and certification. Despite all this attention to the certification and attached loan files, they were hardly used at trial. The government moved the files into evidence at the start of trial but never referred to them. Rule 902(11) is a powerful and efficient short-cut, but it includes important built-in safeguards that cannot be taken lightly. Those safeguards include providing opposing counsel with advance notice of any Rule 902(11) certifications to give that party a fair opportunity to challenge the certifications, which could involve calling the certificate's signer to testify as Green demanded here. See Fed.R.Evid. 902(11); see also United States v. Adefehinti, 510 F.3d 319, 327-28 (D.C.Cir.2008) (amended opinion). We have noted that in some circumstances a Rule 902(11) certification will not implicate a defendant's Confrontation Clause rights because the certificate itself is not testimonial. See United States v. Ellis, 460 F.3d 920, 927 (7th Cir.2006). But the Rule does not give a party license to dump business records into evidence without giving an adverse party an opportunity to question the certificate's signer where such questioning may be warranted. See Adefehinti, 510 F.3d at 328 (commenting that [i]n an appropriate case, the Rule's opportunity to challenge may include cross-examination, while also noting that the Rule 902(11) certificate does not fall within the guarantee provided by the Confrontation Clause). The government was treading on dangerous ground by using Rule 902(11) here to introduce not just these but hundreds of other records to prove the truth of the matters asserted without regard to the many layers of hearsay and the Confrontation Clause rights that those records may have implicated. [5] In any event, we need not decide whether the district court erred by admitting evidence based on the Batalla certification because any such error would have been harmless. At oral argument, we asked the government to file a supplemental memorandum identifying the portions of the record that addressed counsel's objections to the Batalla certification, as well as the portions of the record that corroborate or support the contents of the Equity Express documents admitted based on her certification. The parties' supplemental materials show that many of the documents within each file were duplicates of business records maintained by other lenders that were also admitted without objection. The most relevant loan application materials (the applications purportedly signed by Green containing false information) were also included in other exhibits that came in through trustworthy certifications to which Green did not object. Given this overlap and the limited use of the files, Green has not shown that he was prejudiced by the Equity Express records certified by Batalla. In the absence of prejudice, we need not reach Green's arguments that Batalla's certificate of authenticity failed to meet the requirements of Rules 803(6) and 902(11) or that its use violated his Sixth Amendment right.