Court Opinion

ID: 9850377
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:56:16.621597+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:36.024388
License: Public Domain

Boyle, J.
(concurring). We concur in the reasoning of the lead opinion regarding the threshold for admissibility under MRE 803(6) and in its conclusion with respect to the admissibility of the police reports and police statements in this case. We concur in the conclusion that these documents were not admissible as public records and reports, but we would so hold on the grounds that the documents fall outside the scope of MRE 803(8)(B) because of their investigative character. In any event, we are convinced that the improper admission of these hearsay statements was error which did not prejudice plaintiff. We agree that the trial court’s instruction on the rescue doctrine requires reversal since that instruction, together with the instructions on negligence, may have led the jury to hold Joseph Solomon to a standard of reasonable conduct under the actual circumstances, irrespective of his reasonable belief.
i
While we agree that the police documents in this case were not admissible pursuant to MRE 803(8)(B), we reach that conclusion by a different analysis than that employed by the lead opinion. The documents are not admissible as reports of "matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which there was a duty to report” because they are not reports of routine matters, but are rather more like the investigative or evaluative reports that the rules committee intended *141to exclude in rejecting FRE SOSCSXC).1
MRE 803(8) excepts from the ban on hearsay:
Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth (A) the activities of the office or agency, or (B) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report, excluding, however, in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel, and subject to the limitations of MCL 257.624; MSA 9.2324.
The drafters of MRE 803(8) chose not to include the federal section (C) which creates a hearsay exception for factual findings of public offices or agencies in civil cases and in cases against the government.2
In Bradbury v Ford Motor Co, 419 Mich 550, 553; 358 NW2d 550 (1984), we found that the history of MRE 803(8) demonstrated that "evaluative and investigative reports are not within the provision excepting from the hearsay rule 'matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report The documents involved in this case were clearly products of a police investigation into the shooting of Joseph Solomon.3 These are investigative or *142evaluative reports which are not admissible as public records or reports under MRE 803(8)(B).
The exclusion of "investigative” reports in Bradbury should not be misinterpreted to exclude police reports in general.4 While any police report could be characterized as "investigative,” the drafters of MRE 803(8) obviously did not mean to exclude all police reports in civil actions. To the contrary, the terms of MRE 803(8)(B) suggest that the rule permits admissibility of police reports in civil actions. The rule’s express exclusion "in criminal cases, [of] matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel” by negative implication conveys the rulemakers’ intention that police reports could be admissible under MRE 803(8)(B).5
The reason for the express exclusion of police reports in criminal cases, though, illuminates the reason for exclusion of police reports in the circumstances of this case. A concern with the confrontation rights of an accused is reflected in MRE 803(8)(B), which like the federal rule, excludes "in criminal cases, matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel.” The FRE 803(8)(B) exclusion of police reports in criminal *143cases was added by House amendment after discussion of whether such reports should be admitted against a defendant who has no opportunity to cross-examine the officer, 4 Weinstein & Berger, Evidence, ¶] 803(8)[01], p 803-238. A related rationale for the exclusion of police reports in criminal matters is that police reports in criminal cases are felt to be unreliable because of the adversarial nature of the confrontation between the police and the citizen in a criminal case.6 The limitations on FRE 803(8)(C) are similarly shaped largely by concern for the confrontation rights of a criminal defendant. FRE 803(8)(C) makes investigative or evaluative reports admissible only in civil cases or against the government in criminal cases. The committee so limited part (C) "in view of the almost certain collision with confrontation rights which would result” from the use of evaluative reports against a criminal defendant. Advisory Committee Note, FRE 803(8)(C). Clearly, the rule-makers were hesitant to allow the admission of a document which was the product of an adversarial relationship, both because the circumstances of production lessened the likelihood of reliability, and because the admission of such a document would not be fair to a criminal defendant.7_
*144The history of parts (B) and (C) of FRE 803(8) evidence no intent to exclude routine reports that might be generated during a police investigation, but rather to preclude the admission of reports which might endanger the confrontation rights of a criminal defendant. Thus, matters reported by law enforcement officials are admissible under FRE 803(8)(B) when "the information was recorded by a public official as part of a routine procedure in a non-adversarial setting.” United States v Puente, 826 F2d 1415, 1418 (CA 5, 1987).8 Under FRE 803(8)(C), reports resulting from internal police investigations are admitted in civil cases as investigative or evaluative reports. McQuaig v McCoy, 806 F2d 1298 (CA 5, 1987); Perrin v Anderson, 784 F2d 1040 (CA 10, 1986).
When the drafters of MRE 803(8) omitted part (C) from the rule, they indicated their intent to exclude investigative or evaluative reports from the public records exception, whether in a civil or criminal case. By limiting the MRE 803(8)(B) exception to exclude "in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel,” the drafters further indicated their unwillingness to include within the scope of the hearsay exception evidence that would threaten a criminal defendant’s right to confrontation. This same limitation, however, suggests by negative implication that police reports arising from routine, nonadversarial situations, are generally admissible in civil cases.9 Likewise the limitations of *145Rule 803(8)(B) "will not be extended to other hearsay exceptions if the maker is produced in court as a witness, subject to cross-examination, since the essential purpose of the Congress was simply to avoid uncross-examined evidence.” McCormick, Evidence (3d ed), § 316, p 892, and cases cited in n 16.
We would hold that the police documents in this case were investigative reports outside the scope of MRE 803(8)(B). Clearly, they were not routine recordings of routine acts, nor were they created in a nonadversarial setting. However, this is not to say that all "police” reports are generally outside the scope of MRE 803(8)(B). Police documents recording routine matters fall within the scope of the public records hearsay exception.
ii
We would find the improper admission of the police documents harmless for three reasons. First, the hearsay statements were merely cumulative of properly admitted testimony. Second, the hearsay declarants, police officers Shuell and Nixon, testified at trial and were subject to cross-examination regarding their prior statements. Finally, some of the hearsay statements were actually favorable to plaintiff with regard to the critical fact issue— whether the officers identified themselves to Joseph Solomon as police.
The threshold for reversal based on evidentiary error is stated in MCR 2.613:
(A) Harmless Error. An error in the admission or the exclusion of evidence ... is not ground for granting a new trial, for setting aside a verdict, or for vacating, modifying, or otherwise disturbing a *146judgment or order, unless refusal to take this action appears to the court inconsistent with substantial justice.
An error which does not prejudice a party, therefore, is not ground for reversal. An error is prejudicial when it affects the substantial rights of the party. Ilins v Burns, 388 Mich 504, 510-511; 201 NW2d 624 (1972); Swartz v Dow Chemical Co, 414 Mich 433; 326 NW2d 804 (1982). The burden is on the appellant to show that the error was prejudicial and that the failure to reverse would be inconsistent with substantial justice. Henson v Veterans Cab Co, 384 Mich 486, 494; 185 NW2d 383 (1971).
The Court of Appeals and the federal courts repeatedly hold that improperly admitted hearsay evidence constitutes harmless error when it is merely cumulative of other properly admitted evidence. Duke v American Olean Tile Co, 155 Mich App 555, 572; 400 NW2d 677 (1986); People v Miller, 165 Mich App 32, 50; 418 NW2d 668 (1987); Kelly’s Auto Parts, No 1, Inc v Boughton, 809 F2d 1247, 1255 (CA 6, 1987); Hansen v Johns-Manville Products Corp, 734 F2d 1036, 1040 (CA 5, 1984), cert den 470 US 1051 (1985). A review of the evidence submitted over thirteen days of trial reveals that the statements contained in the improperly admitted police reports and police statements were merely cumulative of properly admitted trial testimony.
The plaintiff argues that exhibit 113, a witness statement by Officer Nixon, was prejudicial to plaintiff’s substantial rights. The plaintiff specifically objects to the hearsay statements that Joseph Solomon was holding a gun in two hands extended in front of him and that Joseph Solomon fired the first shot. However, Nixon testified regarding these *147same facts at trial and was subject to cross-examination on these matters.
The plaintiff also finds prejudice in the admission of exhibit 34A, a recording of statements by defendant Shuell, because the rendition of events contained therein suggests that Joseph Solomon was attacking Shuell rather than attempting to rescue his son. The exhibit leaves that impression to no greater an extent than does the trial testimony of Officer Shuell — the substance of the statement is the same as Shuell’s trial testimony. Because the hearsay statements were merely cumulative of properly admitted testimony, there is no basis to conclude that admission of these statements affected any substantial right of the plaintiff. Defendant Shuell’s statement contained in exhibit 122, and his preliminary complaint report, exhibit 121, were likewise merely cumulative of Shuell’s testimony at trial.
We do not agree that the reports and statements bore an "imprimatur” as official police documents which rendered them more credible to the jury than the testimony of live witnesses. The jury was well aware that these documents contained the statements of none other than Nixon and Shuell, whose credibility was well tested at trial.10 To assume that the jury would give greater weight to statements in police documents than it gave to the very same statements when rendered at trial by the declarants attributes less than a modicum of common sense to the jury.
With respect to exhibit 34A, a supplemental preliminary complaint report containing Shuell’s rendition of events immediately surrounding the shooting, plaintiff complains that the statement *148contains multiple levels of hearsay which are not independently admissible. The statement does indeed include Shuell’s account that Officer Nixon shouted "look out John he’s got a gun,” and Joseph Solomon, while pointing a gun at Shuell, shouted at his son to get down and get out of the way. Shuell testified with regard to these same statements at trial, and it should be noted that plaintiff’s counsel did not object to Shuell’s trial rendition of the various statements which are now characterized as hearsay within hearsay. Nor should counsel have objected; the statements by the decedent and by Officer Nixon obviously were not offered to prove the truth of the matters asserted in these statements, but rather to show the knowledge and state of mind of those involved as events unfolded. The documents in question thus do not contain hearsay within hearsay.
In this case, any likelihood of prejudice was greatly diminished by the fact that both declarants were available for cross-examination and were in fact cross-examined at trial. In Swartz, supra, p 442, this Court recognized that the primary rationale for the exclusion of hearsay is the inability to test the reliability of out-of-court statements:
When dealing with a hearsay problem, the emphasis centers upon the condition of cross-examination. Meaningful cross-examination has become a "vital feature” of the Anglo-American legal system. 5 Wigmore, Evidence [Chadbourn rev], § 1367, p 32. Underlying this rationale is the recognition that the value of many out-of-court statements is undercut because of the inability to test by cross-examination the veracity and competency of the out-of-court declarant from whom the witness has gathered his information. See generally Wigmore, § 1362, p 3.
Although neither the federal rules nor Michi*149gan’s Rules of Evidence fully adopt Wigmore’s reasoning that prior statements of a trial witness should be exempt from the rule barring hearsay, McCormick, Evidence (3d ed), § 251, p 744, the presence of the witness at trial for cross-examination concerning his earlier statement is a valid consideration for the harmless error question. See People v Martin, 75 Mich App 6, 16-17; 254 NW2d 628 (1977), lv den 402 Mich 881 (1978); People v Coppernol, 59 Mich App 745, 752; 229 NW2d 913 (1975), lv den 398 Mich 803 (1976); United States v Lawrence, 699 F2d 697, 704 (CA 5, 1983), cert den 461 US 935 (1983). In this case, the improperly admitted hearsay statements were merely cumulative of the trial testimony of the declarants. Thus, when counsel for plaintiff cross-examined Nixon11 and Shuell at trial, he effectively challenged their hearsay statements as well.
Finally, it is of some significance to the harmless error inquiry that some of the documents complained of were actually favorable to plaintiff with regard to the critical question whether the officers identified themselves to Joseph Solomon as police officers. At trial, both Shuell and Nixon testified that Nixon yelled "police” as Solomon approached. Defendant Shuell testified that as Solomon approached, Shuell yelled words to the effect of "Drop the gun, police.” Yet in his statement, admitted as exhibit 122, Shuell responded, "I don’t recall,” when asked whether he identified himself as a police officer to Joseph Solomon. Shuell’s preliminary complaint report, written on the day of the shooting, contained no mention that either officer identified himself as a police officer to Joseph Solomon. Counsel for plaintiff very capably impeached Shuell with his prior statement and *150with his preliminary complaint report. In closing argument, the damaging effect of these documents on defendant’s claim that Nixon or Shuell informed Joseph Solomon they were police was effectively emphasized by plaintiff’s counsel:
And do you remember, Defendant Shuell prepared what they call a pcr and a pcr [sic] — and you remember I asked Defendant Shuell, what do you put in a pcr. And you remember he agreed with me that you have to put the important facts in. Don’t you think it’s important what they did or didn’t communicate to Joseph Solomon? And what did he write, what did he write about what Officer Nixon said? He said, "Officer Nixon yelled, 'John, look out, he’s got a gun.’ ” And that’s all he wrote. And you’re entitled to read this and I think you’ve read it before. That’s all he wrote. And if you didn’t read it before, you are certainly entitled to read it when you go in and deliberate. That’s all he wrote.
If he would have said, if Nixon would have said, we’re police, or identified himself as a police officer to Joe Solomon, don’t you think that Officer Shuell would have put that in his pcr, because wasn’t that important? He didn’t put it in his pcr because it was never said.
The mere potential for prejudice does not warrant reversal. Swartz; Ilins, supra. In this case, where the improperly admitted documents were merely cumulative of competent testimony by the declarants who were effectively cross-examined at trial, and where two of the documents were used to plaintiff’s advantage on perhaps the most critical question in the case, it cannot be said that plaintiff’s substantial rights were affected. Since no prejudice is shown, the erroneous admission of the police documents does not warrant reversal of the jury’s verdict.
*151HI
We agree with the lead opinion’s conclusion that the erroneous instruction on the rescue doctrine requires reversal of the jury’s verdict, but we do not agree that the instruction itself constrained the jury to conclude that Joseph Solomon’s rescue attempt was unreasonable.
As the lead opinion explains, the rescue doctrine provides that a rescuer is not deemed comparatively negligent merely for exposing himself to an increased risk of harm in order to save another so long as 1) it is not unreasonable to undertake the rescue, and 2) the rescue is carried out in a reasonable manner.12 The lead opinion recognizes that the reasonableness of undertaking rescue is measured by the traditional negligence test of balancing the utility of the conduct in question against the increased risk Of harm.13 The fact that the rescue doctrine reflects the same standard which defines negligence was well explained in Calvert v Ourum, 40 Or App 511, 516; 595 P2d 1264 (1979):
The rescue doctrine does not alter the standard of care. It remains the same. The rescue doctrine operates like the emergency doctrine in that it simply applies the reasonable and prudent person standard to a particular set of circumstances. See Prosser, Torts, § 33 (4th ed 1971). The question is whether a reasonably prudent person would have acted similarly as the plaintiff did under the same or similar circumstances. [Emphasis in original.]
Ordinarily, then, a jury which applied principles of comparative negligence, as the jury did in this case, would have had to apply a standard of reasonableness in determining whether Joseph Solo*152mon properly undertook to rescue his son. In this case, however, an unfortunate confluence between the incorrect instruction regarding rescue and the wording of the instructions regarding the negligence standard may have led the jury to hold Joseph Solomon to a standard of care defined by circumstances as they actually existed, irrespective of his reasonable belief. The trial court instructed the jury regarding the rescue doctrine as follows:
If you find, under the facts, from the evidence, that Alvin Solomon was in imminent and serious peril, a person who goes to the rescue of another who is in imminent and serious peril caused by the negligence of someone else, is not contributorily negligent, so long as the rescue attempt is not recklessly or rashly made.
The jury was instructed regarding negligence as follows:
When I use the word "negligence,” I mean the failure to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the doing of something which a reasonably careful person would not do, under the circumstances which you find existed in this case. It is for you to decide what a reasonably careful person would do or would not do under the circumstances as you find them to be in this case.
When I use the words "ordinary care,” I mean the care a reasonably careful person would use under the circumstances which you find existed in this case. The law does not say what a reasonably careful person would do or would not do under such circumstances. That is for you to decide. It is the duty of the Plaintiff in connection with this occurrence to use ordinary care for his safety. It was the duty of the Defendant in connection with *153this occurrence to use ordinary care for the safety of the Plaintiff.[14]
Because the trial court’s instruction regarding the rescue doctrine, together with its instructions regarding comparative negligence, could have misled the jury to apply a standard other than reasonable conduct under the same or similar circumstances to the acts of Joseph Solomon, we concur in the reversal and remand for a new trial.
Riley, C.J., and Brickley, J., concurred with Boyle, J.

 FRE 803(8XC) excepts from the hearsay rule
in civil actions and proceedings and against the Government in criminal cases, factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law¡ unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.

 This Court has published a proposed amendment of MRE 803(8), adding a part (C) identical to part (C) of FRE 803(8). 428 Mich 1223, 1224 (1987).

 Even the Preliminary Complaint Report, prepared by Shuell on the day of the incident, was required to he prepared pursuant to the internal police investigation. Sgt. Bernard Brantley whose duties included investigations of homicides involving police as perpetrators or victims, testified that each officer involved was required to prepare a Preliminary Complaint Report.

 The Bradbury Court contrasted "investigative” reports, which it held inadmissible, with "reports of objective data observed and reported by [public] officials.” Id., p 554. Thus, the Court implicitly noted two reasons for distinguishing between reports which are admissible under MRE 803(8XB) and those which are inadmissible investigative or evaluative reports: 1) Reports of "matters observed pursuant to duty ... as to which matters there was a duty to report” are likely to contain firsthand observations, whereas evaluative or investigative reports will more likely be gleaned from hearsay statements; and 2) Reports of "matters observed pursuant to duty ... as to which matters there was a duty to report” will more likely contain reports of objective information, whereas investigative or evaluative reports contain more subjective information.

 The express exclusion from MRE 803(8)(B) of police accident reports pursuant to the terms of MCL 257.624; MSA 9.2324 also suggests that police reports may otherwise be admitted under the rule.

 The Senate’s Judiciary Committee Report put forth the following rationale for the amendment excluding from the scope of MRE 803(B) police reports in criminal matters:
"Ostensibly, the reason for this exclusion is that observations by police officers at the scene of the crime of the apprehension of the defendant are not as reliable as observations by public officials in other cases because of the adversarial nature of the confrontation between the police and the defendant in criminal cases.” [4 Weinstein & Berger, Evidence, ¶ 803(8)[01], p 803-238.]

 Consistent with the intent of Congress, FRE 803(8)(B) should be interpreted to allow the introduction of police reports of matters observed pursuant to duty when offered by a criminal defendant. United States v Smith, 172 US App DC 297; 521 F2d 957 (1975).

 See also United States v DeWater, 846 F2d 528, 530 (CA 9, 1988) (report of intoxilyzer results was admissible under FRE 803[8] where the preparation of the report was a "routine, non-adversarial act made in a non-adversarial setting”); United States v Dancy, 861 F2d 77, 79 (CA 5, 1988) (fingerprint cards were admissible as records documenting "routine, unambiguous factual matters”).

 Substantial federal authority holds that routine police reports made in a nonadversarial setting are admissible in criminal csises as *145well, United States v Puente; United States v DeWater; United States v Dancy, supra. However, that issue is not before us today.

 The jury was instructed, moreover, that the fact that a person was a police officer would make his testimony no more or less credible than that of any other witness.

 Nixon was called by plaintiff as an adverse witness, MCL 600.2161; MSA 27A.2161.

 Ante, p 136.

 Ante, p 136.

 This instruction consists of SJI2d 10.02 (Negligence of Adult-Definition); SJI2d 10.03 (Ordinary Care-Adult-Definition); SJI2d 10.04 (Duty to Use Ordinary Care-Adult-Plaintifi); SJI2d 10.05 (Duty to Use Ordinary Care-Adult-Defendant). We do not intend to suggest that these instructions are incorrect or misleading in themselves, only that they could be so in combination with the incorrect rescue instruction given in this case.