Court Opinion

ID: 9462639
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:46:24.346769+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:41.918451
License: Public Domain

JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge
(concurring):
I concur fully in the result and the opinion. I make these observations with respect to that part which deals with the issue of whether the trial judge should have admitted into evidence the hotel casino records and records of telephone calls under the Business Records Act.1 These records were clearly not hearsay and are just as reliable as if a live witness at the casino or a bystander in the bank had testified that he overheard the bank officials give the critical credit information to the hotel casino employees.
As Judge Miller so well demonstrates, these records were not admitted to prove the truth of the representations made therein, but were properly admitted as verbal acts which were indicative that the representations — indeed the misrepresentations — were in fact made; and this is the issue of importance in this case.
The Court’s opinion does not cite the Ninth Circuit’s Seeber opinion for the proposition that the defendant must be “linked” to the particular business records sought to be admitted in order for the Business Records Act to apply. Of course the business records must relate to the defendant’s conduct at issue in the prosecution, but this is a question of relevancy and not another element to be engrafted on the Business Records Act.
For example, the hotel records and telephone records concerning another person’s account might satisfy all the requirements of the Business Records Act, but nevertheless would not be admissible at this trial because they are not “linked” to the defendant’s conduct. Conversely, records which are directly related to the defendant’s conduct are admissible if they satisfy the elements of the Business Records Act even though they lack corroboration from some live swearer. Thus, in this case the fact that some employee of the casino responsible for investigation and approval of credit did not testify in person is not determinative because the records qualifying un*921der the Business Records Act would be quite sufficient to establish the fact that credit was established.2
Thus, both relevance or “linkage” and the Business Records Act requirements are prerequisites to the record’s admission into evidence, but the concepts are logically and legally distinct considerations to be assayed by the trial court in determining admissibility. And concerning the records of telephone conversations, the trial court acted properly in admitting them since they satisfied the elements of the Business Records Act, see United States v. Miranda, 9 Cir., 1971, 443 F.2d 1351, 1357, cert. denied, 404 U.S. 966, 92 S.Ct. 343, 30 L.Ed.2d 286, once the Judge was satisfied that they were linked to the defendant’s conduct so as to be relevant to the controversy.

. The topic head to which I refer is: Whether the trial judge abused his discretion in admitting Las Vegas hotel casino records into evidence under the Business Records Act, 28 U.S. C.A. § 1732(a).

. In United States v. Blake, 5 Cir., 1973, 488 F.2d 101, 105 we discussed the elements which should be considered by the Court in determining admissibility under the Business Records Act:
Liberal as we are to the fullest use of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1732, there are two prerequisites both of which are to be demonstrated to permit admission of business records. First, the Federal Business Records Act states that the offeror must establish that the records were kept in the regular course of business. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Knox Homes Corp., 5 Cir., 1965, 343 F.2d 887; United States v. Barson, 5 Cir., 1970, 434 F.2d 127, 128. Secondly, testimony must be given by a custodian adequately authenticating the record’s accuracy and explaining the efforts employed to ensure this accuracy. United States v. Dawson, 2 Cir., 1968, 400 F.2d 194, 198-199, cert. denied, 1969, 393 U.S. 1023, 89 S.Ct. 632, 21 L.Ed.2d 567; Bridger v. Union Railway Co., 6 Cir., 1966, 355 F.2d 382, 391-392.
It is the circumstances under which the records are recorded, kept, maintained and used that gives the reliability essential to the law’s conclusion that without any independent recollections by those who made the succession of entries they are reliable, precisely because the business relies on them for important business judgments. This principle of business acceptance was recognized by our Court in Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Austin, 5 Cir., 1961, 292 F.2d 415, when we stated:
“In the approach of the Model Act trustworthiness comes from a record (1) regularly made in the course of a business, (2) if it is a part of the regular course of that business to record the event or transaction at or near the time of its occurrence. Most frequently the inquiry concerns the regularity of the making of that record in a particular business. 292 F.2d at 422. (Footnotes omitted).