Whom Does the Federal Rules of Evidence Allow to Prepare Documents ?

In Air Land Forwarders v. United States (172 F3d 1338 [1999]), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that rule 803 (6) of the Federal Rules of Evidence does not require that the document actually be prepared by the business entity proffering the document. Rather, the court stressed two factors, indicating reliability, that would allow an incorporated document to be admitted based upon the foundation testimony of a witness with firsthand knowledge of the record-keeping procedures of the incorporating business, even though that business did not actually prepare the document. The first factor is that the incorporating business rely upon the accuracy of the document incorporated, and the second is that there are other circumstances indicating the trustworthiness of the document. The Federal Circuit's holding follows previous rulings in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits. See: United States v. Doe, 960 F2d 221, 223 (1st Cir 1992); United States v. Jakobetz, 955 F2d 786 (2d Cir 1992); United States v. Sokolow, 91 F3d 396, 403 (3d Cir 1996); United States v. Ullrich, 580 F2d 765, 771-772 (5th Cir 1978); United States v. Childs, 5 F3d 1328, 1334 (9th Cir 1993); United States v. Parker, 749 F2d 628, 633 (11th Cir 1984).