officer’s testimony of records of accident he had not witnessed admissible; the important consideration is whether a business record is derived from an efficient clerical system
How later courts described this case
- officer’s testimony of records of accident he had not witnessed admissible; the important consideration is whether a business record is derived from an efficient clerical system
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
HASTIE, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The only interposition by defense counsel during the trial which, in my judgment, constituted a challenge to the competency of any testimony of the witness Signorino was an objection to his statement concerning the location of debris after the accident. There was no dispute concerning the location of this debris. Accordingly, the admission of this testimony was at worst harmless error. Various other statements of Sig-norino, now challenged as improper conclusions and objectionable hearsay, were admitted without objection at various times during the rather lengthy testimony of this witness. In these circumstances, I think there was an effective waiver of any objection which might have been made to this testimony. Its admission, therefore, was not reversible error.
The opinion of the court also contains some discussion of the coverage of the Federal Business Records Act. I prefer to express no opinion on this matter until there is occasion to do so in relation to some specific issue which depends upon the construction of the language of the statute.
I would affirm the judgment simply on the ground that the objections to the admission of evidence, which the court is sustaining on this appeal, come too late.