When is a business record not a business record. Without sounding silly, it is when it is someone else’s business. That explanation is fundamental and is express in the language of Rule 803(6) which talks of the record of that “activity” (the neutral word for “business”) and implicit in the requirement that the information therein be “by—or from information transmitted by—someone with knowledge.” The “someone with knowledge” phrase connotes a member of the activity/business, as only such a person has the duty and the interest of ensuring accuracy and only such a person could meet the criterion that “making the record was a regular practice of that activity.” See Rule 803(6), Pa.R.Evid.

So why this “back to basics” review of business records fundamentals? That in particular the person who provided the information is a part of the business/activity as opposed to someone who is an “outside source … under no business duty to be accurate when preparing the records." See U.S. Bank v. Lawson, 2014-Ohio-463, P24.