This month, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed important legislation creating a new section of the Civil Procedure Law Rules ensuring the admissibility of a statement by a party's agent or employee when such statement relates to a matter within the scope of the speaker's employment relationship.

This new law, introduced at the request of Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks, upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Civil Practice and with the support of consumer rights and good government advocates, conforms this aspect of New York's hearsay rule to the existing hearsay rules of 48 other states and the Federal Rules of Evidence.^[1]