Opinion ID: 2998880
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1981 and 1998 ATF Inspection Reports.

Text: The district court based its decision in part on copies of 1981 and 1998 ATF inspection reports. The reports were attached as exhibits to the affidavit of Thomas Karmgard (“Karmgard”), an ATF attorney. Gun World argues that the district court should not have looked to these reports to evaluate the willfulness of the violations committed in 2000, because the reports were not “sworn or certified copies,” as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e) requires that, in cases involving summary judgment, “[s]worn or certified copies of all No. 05-2800 5 papers or parts thereof referred to in an affidavit shall be attached thereto or served therewith.” According to Gun World, “because the [1981 and 1998 inspection] reports themselves are not sworn or certified copies, they are not available to support a motion for summary judgment,” regardless of whether they were sufficiently authenticated pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 901(b)(1). In response, the government maintains that the reports need not be sworn or certified copies, because ATF did not revoke Gun World’s license based on these reports; instead, it based the revocation on the 2000 report, as Alexander stated in his declaration. Additionally, the government maintains that even if the reports should not have been admitted, the error was harmless because Soskin admitted under oath that Gun World had been cited by ATF in 1981 and 1998 for violations of the Act. The district court found that the reports were admissible, and that Karmgard’s personal knowledge of the matters underlying the reports was unnecessary to lay a foundation for their admissibility. Instead, Karmgard’s affidavit authenticates the reports as records of ATF. See FED. R. EVID. 901(b)(1). The district court also pointed out that Gun World does not dispute that the reports attached to the affidavit are accurate copies of the originals. The district court properly considered the reports. The government submitted Karmgard’s sworn affidavit in support of its motion for summary judgment. The affidavit authenticated the reports by establishing that they are public reports, kept in a public office, where reports of that type are kept. See FED. R. EVID. 901(b)(1)(7) (“Public records or reports. Evidence that a writing authorized by law to be recorded or filed and in fact recorded or filed in a public office, or a purported public record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, is from the public office where items of this nature are kept.”). 6 No. 05-2800 Karmgard, as an agent of ATF, was competent to make such a statement. He swore to the authenticity of the documents attached to his affidavit, including the 1981 and 1998 reports. It was not necessary that he swear to personal knowledge of facts contained in the reports. Public records and reports are admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule, once their authenticity is established. See FED. R. EVID. 803(8). Gun World emphasizes that there is a distinction between a document’s authenticity and its admissibility, and argues that while the reports were properly authenticated, they still are not admissible. Gun World is correct that a document is not admissible simply because it has been authenticated. “To be admissible, documents must be authenticated by and attached to an affidavit that meets the requirements of Rule 56(e) and the affiant must be a person through whom the exhibits could be admitted into evidence.” Scott v. Edinburg, 346 F.3d 752, 760 n.7 (7th Cir. 2003) (quoting 10A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 2722, at 379-80 & 382-84 (1998)). Those requirements have been met in this case: the reports were authenticated by Karmgard’s affidavit; the reports were attached to his affidavit, which met the requirements of Rule 56(e); and Karmgard is a person through whom the reports could be admitted into evidence, because he is an agent of ATF and is knowledgeable about ATF’s recordkeeping system. Thus, the district court did not err by considering the reports.