Opinion ID: 653713
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Documents as Business Records

Text: 15 Childs argues that the district court erroneously admitted a number of documents as business records without proper foundation. District court decisions to admit evidence under the business records exception to the hearsay rule are reviewed for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Bland, 961 F.2d 123, 126 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 170, 121 L.Ed.2d 117 (1992). Fed.R.Evid. 803(6) provides: 16 A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. The term business as used in this paragraph includes business, institution, association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit. 17 Childs challenges the admission of the government's exhibit 34, an application for Alberta, Canada license plates in the name of Craig Lee Connors. Exhibit 34 was admitted as a business record of the Alberta Division of Motor Vehicles (Alberta DMV). Childs argues that the admission of exhibit 34 was improper because the exhibit was not made by the Alberta DMV, but by a private auto club that was contracted by the Alberta DMV to issue licenses. 18 Testimony indicated that the private auto club was hooked directly into the DMV's computer system and could perform transactions on-line. 2 The private auto club was following the DMV's procedures for issuing licenses and was performing the transactions directly on the DMV's computer system. For the purpose of issuing license plates, the private auto club and the DMV were essentially acting as one business entity. Accordingly, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting exhibit 34 as a business record of the Alberta DMV. 19 Childs objects to the admission of the government's exhibits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 13, arguing that the circumstances surrounding their preparation indicate a lack of trustworthiness. The government alleged at trial that Childs manipulated the Canadian system. Childs argues that he may have had the help of an accomplice within the Canadian system, and if so, the documents would lack trustworthiness and would not have been made in the regular course of business. Childs does not point to any evidence in the record suggesting the presence of such an accomplice within the Canadian system. There is no support for this frivolous argument. 20 Childs next argues that the government's exhibits 19, 20, 23, 31 and 32 were erroneously admitted. These exhibits include several types of documentation kept by auto dealers in connection with the stolen cars, such as certificates of title, purchase orders and odometer statements. They were introduced to show that the stolen automobiles were the same cars that Childs possessed in Canada. These documents were admitted as business records of the automobile dealers. Childs argues that the documents were improperly admitted because, although the documents were kept by the automobile dealers in the regular course of business, the dealers did not make the documents. 21 Several circuits have held that exhibits can be admitted as business records of an entity, even when that entity was not the maker of those records, so long as the other requirements of Rule 803(6) are met and the circumstances indicate the records are trustworthy. See, e.g., United States v. Doe, 960 F.2d 221, 223 (1st Cir.1992) (upholding admission of pistol invoice as a business record of the sports shop which received the invoice where witness testified that he received the invoice and that he relied on  'documents such as those,' in his business to show 'acquisition' of the pistol.); United States v. Parker, 749 F.2d 628, 633 (11th Cir.1984) (upholding admission of customs certificate for liquor as a business record of a distilling company) (That the witness and his company had neither prepared the certificate nor had first-hand knowledge of the preparation does not contravene Rule 803(6).); Mississippi River Grain Elevator, Inc. v. Bartlett & Co., Grain, 659 F.2d 1314, 1318-19 (5th Cir.1981) (upholding admission of grain weight certificates prepared by government entities as business records of private grain company). 22 In United States v. Ullrich, 580 F.2d 765 (5th Cir.1978), the Fifth Circuit considered and rejected the same argument Childs is now making before this court. The prosecutor in Ullrich introduced documents to prove the identity of a stolen automobile through the testimony of an employee of an automobile dealership. Id. at 771. The documents were prepared by a credit company and an automobile manufacturer, and sent to the dealership. The defendant argued that the documents were improperly admitted as business records because they were not prepared by the dealership. The Fifth Circuit found it obvious that the documents were admissible as business records. Id. at 772. Although these documents were furnished originally from other sources, [the dealership employee] testified that they were kept in the regular course of the dealership's business. In effect, they were integrated into the records of the dealership and were used by it. Id. at 771. 23 In this case, as in Ullrich, the witnesses from the auto dealerships testified that the documents in question were kept in the regular course of business at the dealerships. Additionally, the auto dealerships relied on the documents' identification of individual cars in keeping track of their cars. The district court did not err by admitting these documents as business records. 3 24 Lastly, Childs argues that the government's exhibits 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31 and 32 were erroneously admitted because the foundational evidence offered was not presented by the custodians of these documents or by other qualified witnesses. The witnesses who testified concerning these exhibits were former employees of the auto dealerships whose cars were stolen. Although these witnesses were not employees of the auto dealerships at the time they testified at trial, they were employees of the dealerships when the cars were stolen. 25 A witness does not have to be the custodian of documents offered into evidence to establish Rule 803(6)'s foundational requirements. United States v. Ray, 930 F.2d 1368, 1370 (9th Cir.1991); see also Bergen v. F/V St. Patrick, 816 F.2d 1345, 1353 (9th Cir.1987), modified on other grounds, 866 F.2d 318 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 871, 110 S.Ct. 200, 107 L.Ed.2d 154 (1989). The phrase 'other qualified witness' is broadly interpreted to require only that the witness understand the record-keeping system. Ray, 930 F.2d at 1370. A review of the record indicates that the former employees were familiar with the contents and preparation of the exhibits in question. It was not an abuse of discretion to allow the former employees to lay the foundation for these exhibits.