Mortgages – Computer printout – Account summary

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Where judgment entered in favor of a plaintiff bank in the amount of $226,458.28, the court below did not err in permitting the bank to establish the total amount owed on the loan account by introducing a computer printout that contained an account summary and a list of transactions related to the loan.

Affirmed.

“[Defendant Julia] Jones argues on appeal that admitting Exhibit 8 violated the Federal Rules of Evidence. …

“Rule 803(6), known as the business records exception, authorizes the admission of certain documents under an exception to the usual prohibition against the admission of hearsay statements, that is, statements by an out-of-court declarant offered into evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. …

“… Exhibit 8 is a summary of Jones’s account as a mortgage borrower, and, in particular, of the transactions the mortgage history comprises, that is maintained by the current independent servicer of Jones’s account, Caliber Home Loans, Inc. Critically, however, this record is a product of records of some transactions that took place before Caliber became servicer of Jones’s account. The prior entries were created by two other loan servicers, Seterus and Bank of America, and were integrated into Caliber’s database when Caliber succeeded them as servicer. According to Jones, these integrated business records from the prior servicers preclude admission of Exhibit 8 under the quoted rule unless supported by testimony of a custodian or qualified witness with personal knowledge of the record keeping of the respective prior servicers.

“But there is no categorical rule barring the admission of integrated business records under Rule 803(6) based only on the testimony from a representative of the successor business. …

“Based on the facts presented here, we cannot say that the District Court abused its discretion in finding Exhibit 8 with its integrated elements reliable enough to admit under Rule 803(6). Facts in the record, including testimony provided by an employee of Caliber, Letycia Lopez, establish that the servicer relied on the accuracy of the mortgage history and took measures to verify the same. …

“Jones not only fails to eliminate Lopez’s competence as a witness, but she also fails to discredit the substance of Lopez’s testimony that the incorporated records were reliable owing to the very fact that Caliber put its financial interest at stake by relying on them. …

“In sum, we reject Jones’s challenge under Rule 803(6) to the District Court’s admission of Exhibit 8. We do so, however, while acknowledging that the business records of loan servicers may not always carry the requisite indicia of reliability. … It therefore bears repeating: the admission of integrated business records in this context must turn, as it does here, on the particular facts of each case.”

U.S. Bank Trust, N.A. v. Jones (Lawyers Weekly No. 01-133-19) (13 pages) (Souter, J.) Appealed from the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine (Docket No. 18-1719) (May 30, 2019).

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