Beech Aircraft Corp. v. Rainey, 488 U.S. 153 

Supreme Court of the United States

1988

Chapter

6

Title

Hearsay

Page

248

Topic

803(8) Public Records and Reports

Quick Notes

A navy flight instructor and student were performing touch and go maneuver that lead to their crash and death.   The surviving spouses brought a product liability suit; alleging is was an issue with the fuel system.  The Defendants said it was pilot interval maneuver error.  The heart of this case is whether to admit not only factual findings, but also the opinions and conclusions sections of a factual investigation.

Court Holding

o    As long as the conclusion is based on a factual investigation and satisfies the Rule's trustworthiness requirement, it should be admissible along with other portions of the report.

o    As the trial judge in this action determined that certain of the JAG Report's conclusions were trustworthy, he rightly allowed them to be admitted into evidence.

803(8) Public records and reports.

o    Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth

o    (A) the activities of the office or agency, or

o    (B) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report,

o    excluding, however, in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel, or

o    (C) in civil actions and proceedings and against the Government in criminal cases, factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law,

o    unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.

Book Name

Evidence: A Contemporary Approach.  Sydney Beckman, Susan Crump, Fred Galves.  ISBN:  978-0-314-19105-2.

Issue

o         Whether conclusions based on factual findings of the investigation are admissible under 803(8)(C)?  Yes, as long as they are trustworthy.

Procedure

Trial

o         The trial court (United States) entered judgment, upon a jury verdict, in favor of the manufacturer and the service company.

Appellant

o         On review, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded for a new trial.

o         On rehearing en banc, the panel's judgment was reinstated

Supreme

o         The Court reversed that part of the court of appeals' decision, which held that certain conclusions within an investigatory report should have been excluded at trial.

o         The Court affirmed that part of the court of appeals' decision, which held that the trial court erred in refusing to permit the testifying surviving spouse to present a more complete picture his own investigation of the crash.

Facts

Discussion

Key Phrases

Rules

Pl Beech Aircraft Corp

Df Rainey

Plane Crash

o         A navy flight instructor and student were performing touch and go maneuver that lead to their crash and death.

Brought Suit

o         After the crash of a military plane, the surviving spouses brought their product liability suit against the manufacturer, Beech Aerospace Services Company, which serviced the plane under contract with the Navy.

Pl Alleged Defective Fuel System

o         The surviving spouses alleged that the crash had been caused by a loss of engine power, called roll back, due to a defect in the aircraft's fuel control system.

Df - Pilot Error

o         The manufacturer and the service company advanced the theory of pilot error.

JAG Report

o         Lieutenant Morgan prepared an investigation which contained findings of facts, opinions, and recommendations.

Opinions Section

o         Most probable cause was failure to maintain proper interval.

Trial Judge

o         Initially admitted only factual findings.

o         Later reversed and admitted certain conclusions and opinions.

Court Reversed, Admitted, and Barred

o         The court admitted most of the report's "opinions,"

o    Paragraph 5: The impossibility of determining exactly what happened

o    Paragraph 7: Which opined about failure to maintain proper interval as "[t]he most probable cause of the accident."

o         Court Barred

o    The remainder of paragraph 5, "nothing but a possible scenario,"

o    Paragraph 6:  In which investigator Morgan refused to rule out rollback, was deleted as well

Second Document also at Issue (Rainey's Rollback Report)

o         Based on Rainey's own investigation.

o         He was a Navy flight instructor

o         the letter took issue with some of the JAG Report's findings and outlined Rainey's theory that "[t]he most probable primary cause factor of this aircraft mishap is a loss of useful power (or rollback) caused by some form of pneumatic sensing/fuel flow malfunction, probably in the fuel control unit.

Two Week Trial - JAG report should have been excluded

o         Jury returned verdict for the petitioners.

o         Agreed with Raineys argument

o         Rule 803(8)(C) excepts investigatory report from the hearsay rule, did not encompass evaluative conclusions or opinions.

o         Conclusion in the JAG report should have been excluded.

Court of Appeals

o         En Banc

o         Evenly divided.

Court Controversy over what public records and report are not excluded by 803(8)(C)

Smith v. Ithaca (Narrow Reading)

o         Held that the term "factual findings" did not encompass "opinions" or "conclusions."

Broader Interpretation

o         Held that "factual findings admissible under Rule 803(8)(C) may be those which are made by the preparer of the report from disputed evidence . . . ."

Court - factually based conclusions or opinions NOT EXCLUDED (Broader)

o         We agree and hold that factually based conclusions or opinions are not on that account excluded from the scope of Rule 803(8)(C).

Proponents of the narrow view

o         Have relied heavily on a perceived dichotomy between "fact" and "opinion" in arguing for the limited scope of the phrase "factual findings."

o         Records of regularly conducted activity, which expressly refers to "opinions" and "diagnoses."

o         "Factual findings," the court opined, must be something other than opinions.

Court Does not Agree (no distinction between "fact" and "opinion" Rule 803(8)(C))

1.     First, It is not apparent that the term "factual findings" should be read to mean simply "facts" (as opposed to "opinions" or "conclusions").

o    A common definition of "finding of fact" is, for example, "[a] conclusion by way of reasonable inference from the evidence

o    To say the least, the language of the Rule does not compel us to reject the interpretation that "factual findings" includes conclusions or opinions that flow from a factual investigation.

2.     Second, we note that, contrary to what is often assumed, the language of the Rule does not state that "factual findings" are admissible, but that "reports . . . setting forth . . . factual findings" (emphasis added) are admissible.

o    On this reading, the language of the Rule does not create a distinction between "fact" and "opinion" contained in such reports.

Court Legislative History

o    No mention of any dichotomy between statement of fact and opinions or conclusions.

o    Whether evaluative reports should be admissible.

o    Various federal statutes made certain kinds of evaluative reports admissible.

o    All of the examples were reports that stated conclusions.

o    Referred to reports setting forth factual findings, where is call evaluative reports.

Advisory Committee Four Factor Nonexclusive list

(1)   the timeliness of the investigation;

(2)   the investigator's skill or experience;

(3)   whether a hearing was held; and

(4)   possible bias when reports are prepared with a view to possible litigation

Court Holding

o    As long as the conclusion is based on a factual investigation and satisfies the Rule's trustworthiness requirement, it should be admissible along with other portions of the report.

o    As the trial judge in this action determined that certain of the JAG Report's conclusions were trustworthy, he rightly allowed them to be admitted into evidence.

o    We therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals in respect of the Rule 803(8)(C) issue

Rules

803(8) Public records and reports.

o    Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth

o    (A) the activities of the office or agency, or

o    (B) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report,

o    excluding, however, in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel, or

o    (C) in civil actions and proceedings and against the Government in criminal cases, factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law,

o    unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.

Class Notes