Opinion ID: 462454
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the authentication of mcqueeney's sea records

Text: 58 Defendants sought to introduce McQueeney's Sea Records to limit his damages for lost future earnings capacity. The parties' briefs on the authentication of the Sea Records focused, in both the district court and on this appeal, on Local Rule 21(d) of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 20 and on the question whether McQueeney had waived the right to object to the authentication of the Sea Records. It is plain from the record, however, that regardless of these considerations the copies of the Sea Service Records were sufficiently authenticated by circumstantial evidence. 21 59 Rule 903 of the Federal Rules of Evidence states that [t]he testimony of a subscribing witness is not necessary to authenticate a writing unless required by the laws of the jurisdiction whose laws govern the validity of the writing. See also McCormick's Handbook on the Law of Evidence Sec. 222 at 548 (2d ed. 1972) (authentication by circumstantial evidence is uniformly recognized as permissible). There are no cases in this circuit to the contrary, and thus we hold that circumstantial evidence may, in principle, suffice to authenticate a document. The burden of proof for authentication is slight. All that is required is a foundation from which the fact-finder could legitimately infer that the evidence is what the proponent claims it to be. In re Japanese Electronics, 723 F.2d 238, 285 (3d Cir.1983), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 1863, 85 L.Ed.2d 157 (1985). See also United States v. Goichman, 547 F.2d 778, 784 (3d Cir.1976) (Once a prima facie case is made, the evidence goes to the jury and it is the jury who will ultimately determine the authenticity of the evidence, not the court.) (per curiam ) 60 Several pieces of circumstantial evidence support the conclusion that the material in question is indeed what the defendant claims--copies of plaintiff's Sea Service Records. 22 First, the contents of the documents tend to support their claim to authenticity. See Fed.R.Evid. 901(b)(4) ([a]ppearances, contents, substance, internal patterns, or other distinctive characteristics, taken in conjunction with circumstances may establish authenticity). The documents appear to be copies of standard official forms of the Department of Transportation, United States Coast Guard. Each is signed and dated by the plaintiff. Each includes his personal United States Merchant Mariners Document Number. The specificity, regularity, and official appearance of the documents increase the likelihood of their being authentic. See Fed.R.Evid. 901(b)(4); In re Japanese Electronics, supra, 723 F.2d at 286 (court referred to the appearance, content, and substance of purported minutes from a board meeting in upholding their authenticity). 61 Second, the fact that the copies were produced by the plaintiff in answer to an explicit discovery request for his Sea Service Records, while not dispositive on the issue of authentication, is surely probative. See Burgess v. Premier Corp., 727 F.2d 826, 835-36 (9th Cir.1984) (all exhibits found in defendant's warehouse were adequately authenticated simply by their being found there); In re Japanese Electronics, supra, 723 F.2d at 286 (documents have the appearance, content, and substance typical of minutes. They were produced by the defendants pursuant to a discovery order in this proceeding. They come from a source where such minutes are likely to be kept.... No more evidence was needed to establish a prima facie case of authenticity than the record contains.) (citations omitted); Alexander Dawson v. N.L.R.B., 586 F.2d 1300, 1302 (9th Cir.1978) (circumstances of discovery, along with content of documents, were sufficient to demonstrate authenticity); United States v. Natale, 526 F.2d 1160, 1173 (2d Cir.1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 950, 96 S.Ct. 1724, 48 L.Ed.2d 193 (1976); McCormick, supra, Sec. 224 at 552 (proof of private custody, together with other circumstances, is frequently strong circumstantial evidence of authenticity). It is unlikely that plaintiff misunderstood the discovery request, for it was quite specific and plaintiff was presumably well-acquainted with his own Sea Service Records. 62 Third, we note that the information in each of the purported records, although not secret by any means, was not widely held. In addition to plaintiff's personal Merchant Mariners Number, the records also listed his position on each voyage, and the dates and places that he began and finished each of his jobs. 23 Wigmore states that when information is in the sole possession of a person, and a document purportedly written by that person contains that information, there is sufficient evidence of the authenticity of the document. 7 Wigmore Sec. 2148 at 745 (3d ed. 1940) Although Wigmore maintained that so long as more than one person had the information the inference of authenticity was devoid of all force, id. at 746, we believe that the better rule is that the inference does not vanish but rather diminishes as more people know the information contained in the documents. See 5 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence p 901(b)(4) at 901-49 (1982 ed. & Supp.) (The force of the inference decreases as the number of people who know the details and may have written the letter increases.) Although we do not know precisely how many people had the information contained in the proffered evidence, we suspect, as noted above, that the number is small. Therefore, the nature of the information in the documents further supports their authenticity. 63 The sum of this circumstantial evidence easily shoulders the slight burden of proof that authentication requires. It is of course open for the plaintiff at trial to argue that the documents are not genuine, see Goichman, supra, 547 F.2d at 784, or that they are somehow not worthy of great weight in the jury's deliberations. The requisite prima facie showing has, however, been made. 24 Having established that the copies of the Sea Records are authentic, we consider the remaining evidentiary hurdles, i.e., relevancy and hearsay. Although the plaintiff did not object on these grounds, in view of our disposition it is necessary that we consider them. 64 It is immediately apparent that the Sea Service Records were relevant. They showed how much McQueeney had worked in the last few years, and would therefore have been germane to the jury's damage determination. There could be no plausible suggestion that the records could be unduly prejudicial, confusing, or misleading. 65 Furthermore, there can be no hearsay objection, for the Sea Service Records are admissions of a party opponent admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2). Clearly, if McQueeney had filled out the Records themselves they would come under Rule 801(d)(2)(A) for they would be McQueeney's own statements. 25 Upon inspection of the Records it appears, however, that the Records were filled out by several different people, most likely officials of the shipping companies employing McQueeney. This shifts our inquiry to Rule 801(d)(2)(B), adoptive admissions, but the result is the same for we believe that McQueeney's signature on each of the cards is an unequivocal adoption of the contents therein. See Pillsbury Co. v. Cleaver-Brooks, 646 F.2d 1216, 1218 (8th Cir.1981) (signing each page of a report satisfies Rule 801(d)(2)(B) requirement for adoption); United States v. Smith, 609 F.2d 1294, 1301 n. 7 (9th Cir.1979) (records containing defendant's signature may more appropriately be regarded as non-hearsay admissions under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A) and 801(d)(2)(B).). 66 Plaintiff also argues that the admissibility of the Sea Records notwithstanding, defense counsel had the opportunity to enter the Sea Records when McQueeney was on the stand, and that defense counsel's failure to do so acts as a waiver of the issue of admissibility. We cannot accept this argument. As shown above, defense counsel was entitled to proffer the Sea Records without any authenticating testimony or other foundation. Counsel cannot be barred from using the evidence because he failed to comply with an erroneous ruling of the trial judge. 67 Finally, we must consider once again whether the court's error was harmless. The Sea Service Records might have persuaded the jury to award significantly less damages in lost earnings than it in fact did. Although there had been no testimony on plaintiff's work habits, in his closing argument plaintiff's counsel suggested that the jury might base its damage calculations on the assumption that plaintiff would work 8 months per year or even 10 months per year. It is reasonable to believe that the jurors took that figure into account in reaching their damage verdict. The Sea Service Records established, however, that from 1976 through 1980, the plaintiff worked an average of approximately 5 months per year. Applying the Toto standard, see supra pp. 925-928, it is evident that the court's error in excluding the Records was not harmless.