West Palm Beach car accident Hearsay and Exceptions
Checklist of Out-of-Court Statements That Are Not Considered West Palm Beach car accident Hearsay
• Statements not offered for their truth. An out-of-court statement offered to prove only the fact that it was made or heard by a particular person, and not to establish the truth of the statement, is not West Palm Beach car accident Hearsay.
• Admissions. An out-of-court statement made by one of the parties to the proceeding or its authorized agent or employee and offered against the party is not West Palm Beach car accident Hearsay.
• Statements of co-conspirators. Statements made by co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy are not West Palm Beach car accident Hearsay.
• Prior inconsistent statements. A prior out-of-court statement that is inconsistent with the declarant’s testimony at trial.
• Prior consistent statements. A prior out-of-court statement that is consistent with the declarant’s testimony and offered to rebut a charge of recent fabrication or improper influence or motive.
• Identifications. An out-of-court statement identifying a person made after perceiving the person.
Checklist of Most Common West Palm Beach car accident Hearsay Exceptions
Declarant’s Unavailability Immaterial
• Present sense impression. The out-of-court statement describes a particular event and was made while the declarant was experiencing the event or shortly thereafter.
• Excited utterance. The out-of-court statement concerns a startling event and was made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event.
• Bodily condition or state of mind. An out-of-court statement about the declarant’s then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition, such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain, and bodily health.
• Statements for medical diagnosis or treatment. The out-of-court statement describes the declarant’s medical history, past or present symptoms, or the inception or character of the cause of them if reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.
• Past recollection recorded. The out-of-court statement is a written record of a fact or event that the witness made while the fact or event was fresh in the witness’s mind and the witness, after reviewing the record, has insufficient recollection to testify about the event or fact from memory.
• Business records. The out-of-court statement is a record of events made at or near the time by a person with knowledge or at the person’s direction, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business to make the record.
• Public records. The out-of-court statement is in a public or official record kept in public custody.
Additional exceptions exist for:
• Records of vital statistics.
• Records of religious organizations.
• Marriage, baptismal, and similar certificates.
• Family records.
• Records of documents affecting an interest in property.
• Statements in documents affecting an interest in property.
• Statements in ancient documents.
• Market reports.
• Learned treatises.
• Reputation.
• Judgments of previous conviction.
• Judgments as to personal, family, or general history or boundaries.

Declarant Must Be Unavailable to Testify
• Former testimony. The out-of-court statement is in testimony given by the declarant as a witness at another hearing or in a deposition, if the party against whom the statement is offered had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct or cross-examination.
• Declaration in anticipation of death. The declarant made the statement believing his or her death was imminent, and the statement concerns the circumstances of what the declarant believed to be the impending death.
• Declaration against interest. The out-of-court statement was so contrary to the declarant’s proprietary or pecuniary interest or so tended to subject the declarant to liability that a reasonable person in the declarant’s position would not have made the statement unless believing it to be true.