Opinion ID: 382199
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of Calspan Report

Text: 40 During cross-examination of one of Chrysler's expert witnesses, the attorney for the Dawsons referred to the conclusions reached in two reports on the subject of automobile crashworthiness. These reports were prepared for the United States Department of Transportation by the Calspan Corporation (formerly the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Inc.) of Buffalo, New York. Quotations from documents of this kind are admissible under the exception to the hearsay rule contained in Fed.R.Evid. 803(18), which provides: 41 To the extent called to the attention of an expert witness upon cross-examination or relied upon by him in direct examination, statements contained in published treatises, periodicals, or pamphlets on a subject of history, medicine, or other science or art, established as a reliable authority by the testimony or admission of the witness or by other expert testimony or by judicial notice. If admitted, the statements may be read into evidence but may not be received as exhibits. 42 In this case, the authoritativeness of the reports was inferentially conceded by one of Chrysler's expert witnesses. When asked by Dawsons' counsel, since you calculated some data from them, they're reliable in that regard, aren't they, the witness replied: Well, I have no reason to doubt their test data reflected in (the) reports. Moreover, Chrysler did not object to the use of the Calspan report. Accordingly, we hold that the Dawsons' use during cross-examination of the Calspan reports was not precluded by Rule 803(18). 43 Chrysler also challenges the decision of the district court, following the conclusion of all testimony, to admit the Calspan reports into evidence as plaintiffs' exhibits 110 and 111. At the time the reports were offered, Chrysler did not object to their admissibility. Although Rule 803(18) provides that such reports or treatises not be received as exhibits, in light of the fact that there was no objection to the reports and inasmuch as the jurors did not take them into the jury room during their deliberations, we conclude that the error here, if any, was harmless.