Opinion ID: 675124
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rosita's testimony regarding the telephone conversation between Bill and an unidentified third party

Text: 58 Jack's primary objection to Rosita's testimony is based on South Carolina's Dead Man Statute. Because federal law supplies the rule of decision in the case, the federal rules of evidence, not South Carolina's rules, apply. Federal Rule of Evidence 601 provides that the competency of a witness shall be determined in accordance with state law when state law provides the rule of decision with respect to an element of a claim or defense in a civil action. Here, it does not. 59 As the district court noted, Rosita's testimony regarding her husband's telephone conversation is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 803(3) as evidence of Bill's then-existing state of mind. Under 803(3) a statement of the declarant's then-existing state of mind including his intent, plan, or motive, is not excluded by the hearsay rule. In the telephone conversation, Bill expressed his intent to make Rosita the beneficiary of his policy. The evidence, then, shows Bill's intent, and, as the district court has noted, can be used to prove subsequent conduct in conformity with [his] stated intention to change his beneficiary. Phoenix, 828 F.Supp. at 389. United States v. Jenkins, 579 F.2d 840, 842-43 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 458, 58 L.Ed.2d 427 (1978). 60