Opinion ID: 577111
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of Throgs Neck Bridge Toll Receipt

Text: 80 Jakobetz claims that the district court erroneously allowed the government to admit into evidence a toll receipt for the Throgs Neck Bridge, stamped June 14, 1989, 03:28, $10.00. He objected to the evidence on hearsay grounds, more specifically arguing that the receipt did not fall within the business records exception of Fed.R.Evid. 803(6). The receipt was included as part of a Trip Cost Report submitted by Jakobetz to his employer, Wildcat Construction Company, to obtain reimbursement for his expenses. The report recorded trip mileage and expenses and included receipts for the expenses. 81 The government submitted the toll receipt as part of the business records of Wildcat Construction Company. As foundation for introducing the receipt, the government called Ronald Bartemy, Chief Executive Officer of Wildcat and custodian of the company's records. Bartemy authenticated the records at trial and testified that toll receipts were regularly made part of a trip report, which the company routinely used to reimburse drivers. He further testified that the toll receipt had been submitted by Jakobetz as part of an expense record for a trip made from St. Albans Bay, Vermont, to Westbury, New York, beginning on June 13, 1989. Rule 803(6) states: 82 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. 83 Jakobetz contends that the business record exception requires that the toll receipt be authenticated by a person with first-hand knowledge of the Throgs Neck Bridge record system. He argues that since Wildcat simply had possession of, but did not prepare the record, testimony by Bartemy as custodian of Wildcat's records provided an insufficient foundation to conclude that the toll receipt was authentic. Since Wildcat simply had possession of the record, but had not prepared the record, Jakobetz asserts that the custodian from Wildcat could not testify as to the authenticity of the toll receipt. 84 We do not read the business record exception so narrowly. Rule 803(6) allows business records to be admitted if witnesses testify that the records are integrated into a company's records and relied upon in its day to day operations. Matter of Ollag Constr. Equip. Corp., 665 F.2d 43, 46 (2d Cir.1981). Even if the document is originally created by another entity, its creator need not testify when the document has been incorporated into the business records of the testifying entity. See United States v. Carranco, 551 F.2d 1197, 1200 (10th Cir.1977). 85 In this case, Wildcat had incorporated toll receipts into its business records to a sufficient degree to permit an inference as to the receipt's authenticity. Bartemy testified that toll receipts were regularly submitted by drivers as part of their trip reports, and regularly incorporated into the business records for general accounting purposes. 86 In addition, a toll receipt is not the type of evidence that is so susceptible to fabrication that authentication by a representative of the Throgs Neck Bridge should be required. Jakobetz himself relied on its authenticity when he submitted the receipt for reimbursement of his expenses. He must have believed that the date, time, and amount stamped on the receipt fairly represented a part of his trip for which he sought to be reimbursed. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the receipt into evidence. 87