http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=147641421521665296&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholar
FL Fourth District, reversed a trial court’s dismissal of a mortgage foreclosure action, ruling that the testimony of a successor loan servicer’s records custodian was sufficient to lay a proper evidentiary foundation to admit payment records over the borrower’s lack of foundation and hearsay objections.
The Court’s rationale was the business records exception to the hearsay rule — that such documents have a high degree of reliability because businesses have a built-in incentive to make sure their own records are accurate records, because the businesses rely on them to operate. In the Appellate Court’s words, “[m]inor discrepancies in calculations, given the volumes of records transferred from one business entity to another, should not render business records of a successor servicer untrustworthy for purposes of laying a foundation for the business record exception given that the trustworthiness of the records has been established.”
Where a business acquires custody of another business’ records and makes them part of its own business records, the records become those of the successor business. For a current servicer to establish the business records exception for information transmitted by a prior servicer under § 90.803(6), the testifying witness must not only testify that the current servicer verified the information it received, but must also have knowledge of the prior servicers’ record keeping procedures. The Witness must show that the records are trustworthy by, for example, explaining that the business or contractual relationship between the two companies provides a substantial incentive for accuracy.
The successor servicer can also verify that the business records it acquired are trustworthy by stating that, in order verify the accuracy of information it receives in connection loan transfers, its employees go through the files, check them for accuracy and then contact the borrower.
The Court held that the mortgagee’s witness provided sufficient evidence of trustworthiness by testifying that the fourth servicer reviewed the prior servicer’s payment records for accuracy before integrating them into its records.
http://www.4dca.org/calendar/briefs/Jan%202015/1-13-15/13-3514%20Initial%20Brief.pdf
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