Opinion ID: 399919
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Secondary evidence.

Text: 11 Cook contends that the trial court should not have permitted Dennis Neville to testify regarding the contents of Cook's brochure describing the characteristics of Coro-foam insulation. Neville testified that the fire destroyed the brochure supplied by Kreis. The Nevilles attempted to introduce a similar brochure distributed by Cook; however, the court sustained Cook's objection to admissibility of the brochure on the ground that the exhibit had not been included on the pretrial exhibit list. Dennis Neville then testified that Kreis had given him literature on Coro-foam insulation which he had glanced through before deciding to buy the insulation. Neville testified, over objection, that the literature described Coro-foam's fire retardance. 12 Cook maintains that Neville's testimony was not the best evidence to prove the contents of Cook's brochure. Cook contends that because the witness had identified a brochure similar to the one destroyed in the fire it was incumbent upon the Nevilles to introduce that brochure as a duplicate. 13 Cook's argument lacks merit. Because Cook successfully objected to the admission of the similar brochure, it now cannot complain that that document provided the only proper evidence of the contents of the brochure destroyed in the fire. Moreover, the Federal Rules of Evidence recognize no degrees of secondary evidence to prove the contents of a writing that has been lost or destroyed. See United States v. Standing Soldier, 538 F.2d 196, 203 n.8 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1025, 97 S.Ct. 646, 50 L.Ed.2d 627 (1976); Fed.R.Evid. 1004 advisory committee note. The court, therefore, properly admitted the testimony of Dennis Neville as secondary evidence of the contents of the brochure destroyed in the fire. 14