Business Records vs. Past Recollection Recorded

Revised stem

Lydia is a dealer in purple cloth. She employs a warehouse clerk named Marcus who inspects every incoming shipment and reports its contents to her. On March 3, Marcus inspected a shipment of dye materials and immediately told Lydia what it contained. Lydia wrote the information on a shipping receipt and signed it. A copy was sent to the buyer, a textile workshop in Philippi. At trial in a contract dispute over the shipment, Lydia testifies that she supervised the transaction, that she no longer has any independent recollection of what the shipment contained, and that the original receipt is now in the hands of her attorney. Her attorney shows her a document; Lydia identifies it as the receipt she signed. The attorney offers the receipt into evidence. The opposing party objects. If the court admits the receipt into evidence, what will it be admitted as?

Answer flow

01 Notice that the receipt itself is offered into evidence.

02 Cut present recollection refreshed because that uses a writing to jog testimony, not admit the writing.

03 Cut best evidence because it is not a hearsay exception.

04 Clash business records against past recollection recorded.

05 Ask whether Lydia personally knew the shipment contents.

06 She did not; Marcus inspected and reported them under a business duty.

07 That defeats past recollection recorded and supports the business-record exception.

08 Choose C.

A / trap

wrong_frame / best-evidence distraction

An original document under the best evidence rule.

A points to the wrong rule. The best evidence rule governs proof of a writing's contents; it is not a hearsay exception that makes the receipt admissible.

B / trap

procedural_misfit / refresh-vs-exhibit

A present recollection refreshed.

B fails because Lydia has no recollection to refresh and the receipt itself is being offered as an exhibit. Rule 612 is a testimony tool, not this exhibit's admission theory.

C / correct

residue / business-record exception

A record kept in the usual course of business.

C fits FRE 803(6). Lydia made the receipt in the ordinary course from Marcus's prompt report, and Marcus had a business duty to inspect and report the shipment contents.

D / trap

half_truth / PRC personal-knowledge trap

A past recollection recorded.

D is the dominant trap. Lydia made the record and now lacks memory, but past recollection recorded requires the witness's own knowledge of the recorded facts. She relied on Marcus's report.

C3 locks

Red axis: Business records can use information transmitted by a person with knowledge and a business duty to report.

Purple profile: The trap sells past recollection recorded because the witness made a record and now lacks memory.

Blue signal: The splitting fact is that Marcus, not Lydia, personally inspected the shipment.

Orange repair: Student habit to repair: treating every made-when-fresh record as past recollection recorded without checking personal knowledge.

Reusable keys

Gold Key / GK-EVIDENCE-PRC-VS-BR-01
Past recollection recorded requires the witness's own knowledge; business records may rely on information from a person with knowledge and a business duty to report.

Silver Key / SK-EVIDENCE-EXHIBIT-NOT-REFRESH
When the document itself is offered as an exhibit, do not classify it as present recollection refreshed under Rule 612.

Trap Key / TK-EVIDENCE-BER-NOT-HEARSAY-EXCEPTION
The best evidence rule does not supply a hearsay exception; it does not answer why a record is admissible.

LeadMe steps

01 Classify the procedural posture: the receipt is offered as an exhibit.

02 Remove Rule 612 because no refreshed testimony is being used.

03 Remove best evidence because it is not an admissibility exception.

04 Compare business records with past recollection recorded.

05 Check whose knowledge supplied the contents.

06 Use Marcus's business duty to route to business records.

07 Pick C.

Drill seeds