CASE PROCESSING PROCEDURES; EVIDENCE – Hearsay

Single Topic for Decision 2855E

View all topics for Decision 2855E

Full Decision Text (click on the link to view): Full Text

Summary of parent responses to a survey fell within the official records exception. (Bellflower Unified School District (2014) PERB Decision No. 2385, p. 9.) However, because the record was a summary, it was admissible only if allowable under the secondary evidence rule. The trier of fact has discretion to admit secondary evidence to prove the content of underlying writings if the secondary evidence is otherwise admissible (as here, where it was an official record), but even in that instance the trier of fact should reject secondary evidence where there is a genuine and material dispute about the content of the underlying writing (Evid. Code, § 1521, subd. (a)) or admission would be unfair (id., subd. (b)). The Evidence Code adds further restrictions on oral secondary evidence (Evid. Code, § 1523), but in this case the secondary evidence was a written summary. In this case, the union did not persuade the Board to reject the summary under Evidence Code section 1521, subdivision (a) and/or (b). (p. 6, fn. 5.)