纽约州律师考试证据法侵权法和宪法笔记Evidence.docx

纽约州律师考试证据法侵权法和宪法笔记Evidence.docx

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纽约州律师考试证据法侵权法和宪法笔记Evidence

Evidence（33Qs）

Issuesidentifiedinpractice:

✧Judicialnotice:

∆generallyknowninthejurisdictionorcapableofreadyandaccuratedetermination;

∆incivilcase,conclusivelyestablished（mandatory）;and,incriminal,maybetakenbyjury（discretionary）

✧Impeachmentbycharacterforuntruthfulness（reputation/opinion,badact,priorconviction）rehabilitation

✧Incivilfraudcase,priorfraudispermittedeitherforcharacterevidence（?

?

）orforprovingintent

✧Businessrecords:

judgemayexcludebusinessrecordsif（i）sourceofinformationlackstruthfulness,（ii）nofirst-handknowledge,（iii）purposedtoprovewhathappenedornot（forpotentiallitigation）（note:

thisitem（iii）isokayinNY）

✧Dyingdeclaration:

incriminalcase,victimmustdiebecausedyingdeclarationisadmissibleonlyinhomicidecase（ifvictimisnotdead,nohomicidecase）.Watchforattemptedmurder

MiniReview:

1.Characterevidence

✧Criminalcase:

（1）Prosecutorcan’tintroducebadcharacterforthepurposeofprovingactioninconformitywithcharacter;

（2）Disallowedtointroducegoodcharactertoproveheactedinconformitywithgoodcharacter;

（3）IfDprovidedgoodcharacterevidence,Prosecutorisallowedtoshowbadcharacterevidence（reputationandopinion）andcross-examinationofcharacterwitnessbymeansofintrinsicevidenceof“specificact”

（4）Evidenceofothercrimesareinadmissibleforconformitypurpose,butlikelyadmissibleforMIMICpurpose;

（5）IfDtakesthestand,PmayimpeachDwithcharacterevidenceofuntruthfulness.

✧Civilcase:

（1）Youcan’tintroducecharacterevidencetoshowconformity;

（2）Characterevidencemaybeintroducedforotherpurposes,suchasnegligenthiring/entrustment,defamation,fraud,andMIMIC…;

（3）Watchforthedifferencebetweencharacterevidenceandhabitevidence.

2.Impeachment

✧Priorinconsistentstatement

∆Extrinsicevidenceallowed

∆Impeachedwitnessmustbegivenopportunitytocomment,beforeoraftertheofferofsuchextrinsicevidence

✧Bias

∆Extrinsicevidenceallowed

∆Witnessmustbecross-examinedforthefactsshowingbias/interestpriortointroductionofextrinsicevidence

✧Priorcrimeconviction（10yearslimitationforFRE）

∆Involvingdishonesty/falsestatement

∆Otherfelonybalancetest

∆Extrinsicevidencebymeansofconvictionrecord

✧Priorbadact–onlyintrinsicevidenceallowed,noaskingaboutarrest

✧Untruthfulness

∆Reputation/opinion

∆Specificevidenceonlybycross-examination,ifdenied,noextrinsicevidence

3.Hearsay（note,partyadmissionisnonhearsayunderFRE）

a）Method:

hearsay?

priorinconsistentstatement,priorconsistentstatement,effectuponpeople,verbalactexception

b）Prioridentification（nonhearsayunderFRE）

c）Presentsenseimpression

d）Excitedutterance

e）Medicaltreatmentstatement

f）Bizrecords

g）Formertestimony

h）Dyingdeclaration

i）Partyadmission:

vicariousadmission（employee,partner,co-conspirator）,adoptiveadmission

I.Relevance

A.LogicalRelevance（Probativeness）

1.Standardofadmissibility–doestheevidencehaveanytendencytomakeamaterialfactmoreorlessprobablethanitwouldbewithouttheevidence（relatetotime/person/event）

2.Exceptionswhereadmissible–similaroccurrences

a.Prioraccidentsorclaims

（i）P’sprioraccidenthistory–inadmissible;EXCEPT

（a）Provecommonplan&schemeoffraud;or

（b）WhencauseofP’sdamagesisinissue

（ii）D’spriorconditions–ONLYinvolvingthesameinstrumentalityorcondition,andoccurringundersubstantiallysimilarcircumstances,toprove:

（a）Existenceofadangerouscondition

（b）Dhadpriornotice

（c）Causation

b.Intentisissue–drawinferenceofintentfrompriorconducte.g.genderdiscrimination

c.Similarsalestoestablishvalue

d.HabitEvidence–toinferapersonactedontheoccasionatissue

（i）Dispositionevidence–NOTadmissible

（ii）PriorActevidence（propensity）–NOTadmissible

（iii）Habit–Admissible（keywords–always,invariably,automatically,instinctively）

（a）particularity;AND（b）frequency（judge’sdiscretionhowoftenisenough）

*NYDistinctions–HabitEvidence（moresuspicious）

1.Personalhabitonissueofduecareinnegligent–INADMISSIBLE

2.Personalhabitinuseofproduct–Admissible（inproductsliabilitycase）

e.IndustrialorBusinessRoutine（businesshabit）–admissible

f.IndustrialCustomasStandardofcare（whatdoothersimilarcompanieddo）

B.JudicialDiscretionaryExclusion

1.Probativevalueissubstantiallyoutweighedbydangerof–

（1）dangerofunfairprejudice;

（2）confusionofissues;（3）misleadingthejury;（4）unduedelay;（5）wasteoftime;（6）undulycumulative

2.NOT–unfairsurprise

C.PublicPolicyBasedExclusion

1.LiabilityInsurance

a.Notadmissibletoshownegligenceorabilitytopay

b.EXCEPTIONS

（i）proveownershiporcontrol（whendisputed,getlimitinginstructions）;OR

（ii）impeachment–biasduetointerest

2.SubsequentRemedialMeasure

a.Notadmissibletoshownegligence/culpableconduct/productordesigndefect/needforwarning

b.EXCEPTIONS

（i）proveownershipofcontrol（whendisputed）;OR

（ii）rebutorimpeachaclaimthatprecautionswerenotfeasible（whenfeasibilityisdisputed）

c.Subsequentremedialmeasuresby3rdparties–admissible

*NYDistinctions–SubsequentRemedialMeasures（StrictLiabilitycase）

1.ManufacturingDefects–Admissibletoestablishdefectivenessofproductwhenmade

2.BUT,designdefectORharacterEvidencefertopaymedicalexpensesareAdmissibleon.isdisputedastovalidityoramount___________________________failuretowarn–NOTadmissible（exceptforfeasibilitydispute）

3.Settlements

a.CivilCases

（i）Notadmissible–evidenceofasettlementofoffertosettle,toproveliabilityorweakenotherparty

（ii）Notadmissible–statementsoffactmadeincourseofsettlement

（iii）Requirements（atthetimeofsettlementdiscussion）

（a）Theremustbeaclaim–ifsomeoneadmitsbeforeclaim,it’sadmissible;AND

（b）Theremustbeadisputeastoliabilityoramount–ifDadmitstofullliability,it’sadmissible

（iv）EXCEPT–forimpeachment

b.CriminalCases

（i）Offertopleadguilty–Notadmissible（allcriminal&subsequentcivilcasesbasedonsamefacts）

（ii）Withdrawnguiltyplea–Notadmissible（allcriminal&subsequentcivilcasesbasedonsamefacts）

（iii）Pleaofnolocontendere（Nocontest）

（iv）Statementsmadeduringthecourseofnegotiation

NYDistinctions–Withdrawnguiltypleas

Admissibleinsubsequentcivillitigationbasedonsamefactsaspartyadmission.

4.OffertopayMedicalExpenses

a.Notadmissible–toproveculpableconduct

b.BUT,admissionsoffactaccompanyinganoffertopaymedicalexpensesareAdmissible

5.PriorSexualConductofVictim

a.Inanycivilorcriminalproceedinginvolvingsexualmisconduct,thefollowingisNOTadmissible

（i）Opinionorreputationaboutthevictim’ssexualpropensity,or

（ii）Evidenceofspecificsexualbehaviorofthevictim

b.Exceptions

（i）SpecificsexualbehaviortoprovesomeoneotherthatDwasthesourceofsemenorinjury;

（ii）Victim’ssexualactivitywithDifthedefenseofconsentisasserted;or

（iii）WhereexclusionwouldviolateD’srightofdueprocess（placedincontroversybyvictim）

*NYDistinctions–PriorSexualConduct

Convictionofprostitutionwithinlast3yearsallowed

D.CharacterEvidence

1.Purposeofcharacterevidence

a.Directevidence–person’scharacterisamaterialelementinthecivilcase（charactercanneverbeanelementincriminalcase）

b.Circumstantialevidence–inferconductinconformitywithcharacterattimeoflitigatedevent

c.Impeachwitnesscredibility

2.Methodofprovingcharacter

a.Specificacts

b.Opiniontestimony

c.Reputationtestimony

3.CivilCases

a.Circumstantialevidence–NOTadmissibletoproveconductinconformity（evencivilcaseinvolvingcriminalconduct）

b.Directevidence–admissiblewhereessentialelementofaclaimordefense（e.g.defamation,negligenthiringorentrustment,deceit,assault/battery（forselfdefensepurpose））;methods–Specificacts,Opinion,orReputation

4.CriminalCases

a.Dprovescharacter

（i）EvidencetoproveconductinconformityisNOTadmissibleduringprosecution’scase-in-chief（D’scharactertraitisneveranelement）

（ii）BUT,Dmayintroduceevidenceofarelevantcharactertrait,whichopensthedoorforrebuttal

-Methods–Opinion&Reputation

*NYDistinctions–Characterwitnessincriminalcases

OnlyREPUTATIONascircumstantialevidenceisallowed–bothforD&prosecution

b.Prosecution’sRebuttal–whenDopensdoor（onlythroughcharacterwitness）,prosecutionmay:

（i）Cross-examiningcharacterwitness（specificacts）–inquiringD’srelevantspecificacts（butcannotprovethemintrial）thatreflectadverselyonparticularcharactertraitintroducedbyD–toimpeachcharacterwitness;and/or

（ii）Callingitsowncharacterwitness（opinionorreputation）–tocontradictD’switness

*NYDistinctions–Prosecutionrebuttalagainstcharacterwitness

1.Cross-examining–canonlybegintoask“Haveyouheard”

2.Callingownwitness–introduce

（1）reputationevidence;and

（2）introductionofpriorconvictionswhichreflectadverselyonthecharactertraitinissue.

c.Victim’sCharacter–SELF-DefenseCase

（i）Dmayintroducevictim’sBADcharacter（opinionorreputation）–opensdoorforprosecution

*NYDistinctions–Victiminself-defensecriminalcase

CharacterevidenceofvictimisNOTadmissibletoprovethatvictimwasthefirstaggressor.

（ii）Prosecutionmayrebutbyshowing:

（a）Victim’sGoodcharacter;and/or

（b）D’sBadcharacterforthesametrait（opin