Court Opinion

ID: 9464408
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:32:10.385787+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:36.204429
License: Public Domain

PECK, Circuit Judge
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion in this case, in which the record clearly establishes that having established a prima facie case the plaintiff-appellant could not procure and offer further essential evidence which was readily available to the defendant-ap-pellee, thereby justifying a shifting of the burden of proof. I would fall short of holding, however, as the majority opinion appears to hold, that the burden of proof automatically shifts as a matter of law on the basis of judicial notice of circumstances pertaining to the essential evidence, e. g., the caloric content of a given diet. It seems to me that such a shift should be predicated upon a showing that the plaintiff has made some attempt to obtain the evidence without success, rather than upon judicial notice of that circumstance.