Hernandez v Tepan, 2012 NY Slip Op 01211 (2d Dept. 2012)
“As the defendant correctly contends, the police accident report submitted by the plaintiff in support of the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability constituted inadmissible hearsay, since the report was not certified as a business record (see CPLR 4518[a]; Johnson v Lutz, 253 NY 124, 128; Bailey v Reid, 82 AD3d 809, 810; see also Noakes v Rosa, 54 AD3d 317, 318), and there is no indication that some other hearsay exception applied to the statements contained in the report”
This case is a hard read. It says an uncertified police report is hearsay, yet cites to 4518(a) and not 4518(c). The cases that are cited deal with, in essence, Hochauser issues.
One Response
The police report has to be certified. Basta. Hochhauser is a great case.
Every court from the NYC Civ to Supreme has turned evidence into a bad evidence of Perry Mason or a good episode of Judge Judy.
I remember Perry pulling a confession written by a witness out of his pocket on cross examination and putting it right into evidence. No foundation questions. The witness even said she did not write it. Perry said “we’ll let the jury decide.”