New CPLR 4549: Admissibility of Agent/Employee Statements Against the Principal/Agent
CPLR 4549 is a significant evidentiary enactment. It deserves careful study not just because it creates a new hearsay exception but also because the statute, based as it is on New York's common law evidence landscape, differs in certain important respects from the FRE representative admissions exceptions. Michael J. Hutter devotes this edition of his Evidence column to CPLR 4549.
February 14, 2022 at 12:00 PM
12 minute read
EvidenceThe New York Legislature by L. 2021, ch.833. effective Dec. 31, 2021, enacted CPLR 4549, which provides: "A statement offered against an opposing party shall not be excluded from evidence as hearsay if made by a person whom the opposing party authorized to make a statement on the subject or by the opposing party's agent or employee on a matter within the scope of that relationship and during the existence of that relationship." CPLR 4549 sets forth two closely related hearsay exceptions for statements made by an agent or employee offered against the principal or agent, which exceptions can be referred to as "representative admissions." The first part permits the admission of a statement of a party's agent or employee against the principal or employer when the party has authorized the statement to be made, the "speaking agent" exception; and the second part allows for the admission against a party principal or employer made by the party's agent or employee whether authorized or not concerning a matter within the scope of the agency or employment, the "agent or employee" exception.
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