In Hart v. Keenan Properties, Inc., the Supreme Court today reinstates a $1,626,517.82 judgment the Court of Appeal had reversed based on a claimed evidentiary error.
The plaintiff, a pipe installer who developed mesothelioma allegedly from asbestos-cement pipes, needed to establish it was the defendant company that had supplied the pipes he had installed. He did so with testimony of a co-worker who remembered seeing the company’s name and logo on invoices at the project site. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding the testimony was inadmissible hearsay evidence.
The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Carol Corrigan concludes the evidence wasn’t offered for a hearsay purpose. Rather, the court says the “witness’s observation of the name and logo was circumstantial evidence of identity, not proof of the truth of matters asserted in the document.” The court also rejects defendant’s argument that the invoices were not properly authenticated.
The court reverses the First District, Division Five, Court of Appeal. Plaintiff cannot collect on the judgment yet, however. The Supreme Court sends the case back to the appellate court “for consideration of other contentions left unresolved.”