Opinion ID: 1185824
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: admission of documentary summary

Text: Defendant also characterizes as prejudicial error the trial court's exclusion of defendant's Exhibit D-44, a summary prepared by Mrs. Tuft which itemized the problems with the backhoe based upon information from defendant's reports, invoices, telephone memoranda, and Mr. Tuft's diary. We find no error in the court's refusal to admit the exhibit. For the exhibit to be admissible, it must qualify both as an exception to the hearsay rule under Rule 63(13), Utah Rules of Evidence, governing the admission of business entries, and as a proper summary within the meaning of Rule 70(1)(f). Although the summary in question was prepared from books and records kept in the normal course of business, except possibly for the sporadic diary entries, the summary itself was not made in the regular course of business. It was apparently prepared in anticipation of, and preparation for, this lawsuit. Rule 70(1) provides for the admission of a summary only in limited circumstances, one of which is when the original consists of numerous accounts or other documents which cannot be examined without great loss of time. Defendant concedes that Mrs. Tuft was allowed to testify generally as to the problems with the backhoe and to use the exhibit to refresh her memory concerning specific problems. Some of the repair problems were also reflected on exhibits that were admitted into evidence. Although defendant contends that the exhibits received in evidence did not indicate many of the problems that were noted on phone logs, progress reports, daily diaries, and other documents which were more fully identified on the refused exhibit, there is no contention that these latter documents could not have been examined in court without great loss of time. Exhibit D-44 appears to be nothing more than a cumulative summary of evidence which was otherwise received and considered by the jury and was itself properly excluded.