What is Records of Regularly Conducted Activity?
Records of regularly conducted activity are an exception to the hearsay rule. These records consist of documentation that is routinely prepared to keep a record of a business's actions, such as profit and loss statements, quarterly earnings reports, or travel logs. These records can be admitted into court even if their author isn’t in court, so long as a witness who worked in the record-keeping of the business can testify that the records were kept in the ordinary course of that business. This hearsay exception is also known as records kept in the ordinary course of business. Many lawyers use the two terms interchangeably.
Example
In an employment case, a plaintiff claimed that the defendant employer failed to properly pay them overtime. Defense counsel was able to introduce the plaintiff's timesheets as records of regularly conducted activity, as the plaintiff had to clock in and out of a time clock, and the business kept those records in the ordinary course of business.
Case Examples
- Admitting records of regularly conducted activity into evidence: To get around the hearsay rule, a witness can testify that records are routinely kept in the ordinary course of business and the records presented in court are part of that regularly conducted business. See United States v. Wigerman , 549 F.2d 1192, 1193 (8th Cir. 1977). In Wigerman , the defendant, Wigerman, was convicted of RICO activity, partly based on travel logs and hotel receipts kept by his company. Id. The defendant argued that these documents were improperly admitted into evidence as records of regularly conducted activity. Id. The court disagreed, finding that the witness who authenticated the records had sufficiently testified that the records the prosecution sought to include were kept in the ordinary course of business. Id. Therefore, the court found that they qualified under the records of regularly conducted activity exception to the hearsay rule. Id.
Further Reading
For more detailed information, see our related Evidence terms:
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