eDiscovery Case Law: Another Case with Inadmissible Text Messages

http://ow.ly/b2Cmm

An article by Doug Austin posted on the eDiscovery Daily Blog.

This article examines the case of  Rodriguez v. Nevada, No. 56413, 2012 WL 1136437 (Nev. Apr. 5, 2012), in which text messages were ruled inadmissible due to a lack of supporting foundation.  A link to the case opinion is provided in the article.

The article follows up on a recent Pennsylvania state case, which also rejected text messages since there was no additional supporting evidence offered to substantiate the authenticity of the text messages.

The article states, "The court noted that “Text messages offer new analytical challenges when courts consider their admissibility. However, those challenges do not require a deviation from basic evidentiary rules applied when determining authentication and hearsay.” Further noting that “establishing the identity of the author of a text message through the use of corroborating evidence is critical to satisfying the authentication requirement for admissibility", the court concluded that when there has been an objection to admissibility of a text message, “the proponent of the evidence must explain the purpose for which the text message is being offered and provide sufficient direct or circumstantial corroborating evidence of authorship in order to authenticate the text message as a condition precedent to its admission”.

Since the state did not offer any corroborating evidence that the defendant authored 10 of the 12 text messages, those messages were ruled as inadmissible. The other two messages were deemed admissible and not considered to be hearsay because in those instances, the state was able to present bus surveillance video of the defendant participating in using the phone at the time those two messages were sent."