Wayne Streibich, Edward W. Chang, Nicole R. Topper, Anthony R. Yanez

On July 2, 2020, the Florida Supreme Court issued its written opinion[i] in Jackson v. Household Finance Corporation, III, 236 So. 3d 1170 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) to resolve a conflict with a case decided by the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Maslak v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 190 So. 3d 656 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). Specifically, the issue concerned whether the predicates were met for admissions of records into evidence under the business records exception to the hearsay rule during the course of a bench trial in a residential foreclosure case. The Florida Supreme Court held that the proper predicate for admission can be laid by a qualified witness testifying to the foundation elements of the exception set forth in Section 90.803(6) of the Florida Evidence Code.

Background

On June 23, 2014, the originating lender, Household Finance Corporation III (“HFC”), filed a foreclosure complaint alleging a default under the note and mortgage. Before the loan was originated, HFC was purchased by HSBC Holdings (“HSBC”) and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC. The borrower did not challenge the default, but opted to challenge whether the lender could establish its case in chief at trial.

At trial, HFC called an assistant vice president at HSBC, with 25 years’ experience at the company, to establish the foundation for admission of records under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. The borrower objected to the witnesses’ testimony on hearsay grounds and the original note, mortgage, and payment history were received into evidence over the borrower’s objections. The borrower elected not to introduce any evidence of her own and the trial court entered final judgment of foreclosure. The borrower appealed to the Second District Court of Appeal, which affirmed the final judgment of foreclosure.

The Jackson case conflicted with the Maslak decision from the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which reached the opposite conclusion regarding the sufficiency of the bank witness’ testimony. In Maslak, despite the bank employee’s testimony describing her job duties and familiarity with the bank’s loan servicing practices, the court held that the witness was not qualified to lay a foundation for the admission of the loan servicing documents that were offered into evidence at that trial. As a direct conflict of two intermediate appellate court decisions on the same issue of law, the Florida Supreme Court had jurisdiction to resolve the issue.

Florida Supreme Court’s Decision

In examining the business records exception to the hearsay rule, the Florida Supreme Court noted that a party has three options to lay the foundation to meet that exception: (1) offering testimony of a records custodian, (2) presenting a certification that or declaration that the elements have been established, or (3) obtaining a stipulation of admissibility. If the party elects to present testimony, the applicable case law explains that it does not need to be the person who created the business records. The witness may be any qualified person with knowledge of each of the elements.

Patterned closely after the federal rule, Section 90.803 of the Florida Evidence Code[ii] lists the following foundational elements of the business records exception: (1) that the record was made at or near the time of the event, (2) that it was made by or from information transmitted by a person with knowledge, (3) that it was kept in the ordinary course of a regularly conducted business activity, and (4) that it was a regular practice of that business to make such a record.

Turning to the testimony of the HFC trial witness, the majority opinion determined that the foundational elements were met and that no additional foundation was required by the business records exception language of the Section 90.803(6). The majority rejected the notion that the witness was required to detail the basis for his or her familiarity with the relevant business practices of the company, or give additional details about those practices in order to lay the foundation for the admission of those records. Since no such requirements were in the statute, any requirement imposed by the trial court or the appellate court would be inconsistent with the plain language of the statute. The majority explained that once the proponent lays the predicate for admission, the burden shifts to the opposing party to prove that the records were untrustworthy or should not be admitted for some other reason. According to the majority, the Jackson borrower failed to do that in this case and only waited until after the documents were received into evidence to question the witness about the basis for his knowledge.

The dissenting opinion posited that the majority’s ruling “[took away] the proponent’s burden to lay a proper foundation for admission” and focused on whether the proper foundation was met in the Jackson case. The dissent argued that the testimony at the Jackson trial was merely “general statements” that recited the elements of the statute but did not explain how the business records at issue were generated, what they were used for, or how they were maintained. For that reason, the dissenting judges maintained that the burden never shifted to the borrower to prove the untrustworthiness of those records, and concluded that the majority’s treatment of the business records exception as a “magic words” test would only increase the likelihood of inadmissible documents being admitted into evidence.

Conclusion

Compliance with the business records exception to the hearsay rule will almost always be a hotly contested issue at a foreclosure non-jury trial in Florida. The Jackson opinion, and the arguments raised in the dissenting opinion, will remind the trial courts to pay careful attention to the foundational requirements of the business records exception to the hearsay rule when timely objections are made to the evidence on those grounds. Despite competing opinions on the issue, the Florida Supreme Court agrees that the proponent’s witness should demonstrate personal knowledge and establish that the offered exhibits are reliable business records. To remove all doubt, a witness’ testimony should demonstrate a working knowledge of the company’s business record practices and systems. As a result of the Jackson opinion, it is important to effectively prepare the business records custodian witness to withstand any increased scrutiny as to the foundation requirements of the business records exception to the hearsay rule.

[i] The Florida Supreme Court decided the case by a 4 to 2 margin. Newly appointed justice, Renatha Francis, did not participate in the opinion. This decision is not final until the disposition of a timely-filed rehearing motion.

[ii] This section was last revised in 2003, adding language that a certification or declaration is an acceptable means of authenticating a business record under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. See ch. 2003–259, § 2, at 1299, Laws of Fla.; see also Fla. Stat. § 90.803(6) (2003) (providing for admission of business records upon testimony of the custodian of the records, “or as shown by a certification or declaration that complies with paragraph (c) and s. 90.902(11)”).

Wayne Streibich, Edward W. Chang, Jonathan F. Ball

On July 1, 2020, the Supreme Court of New Jersey issued its unanimous opinion in Investors Bank v. Torres confirming that an assignee of a note lost by a predecessor in interest can enforce the lost note.[1] The Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Division, which had affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the assignee.[2] The Supreme Court’s decision clarifies that an assignee seeking to enforce a note lost by its predecessor in interest must present: (1) an admissible and sufficient Lost Note Affidavit; and (2) competent proof of the terms of the lost note. The Supreme Court expressly declined to adopt the Appellate Division’s reasoning that the equitable principle of unjust enrichment required allowing the assignee to enforce the note lost by its predecessor in interest to prevent a borrower from keeping a home for which they are not paying the mortgage.

The borrower, Torres, executed a promissory note in favor of AMRO Mortgage Group, Inc. (“ABN”), which was secured by a residential mortgage in 2005. ABN subsequently merged into CitiMortgage, Inc. (“CitiMortgage”). Torres defaulted on the note in 2010. CitiMortgage instituted a foreclosure action, which it voluntarily dismissed without prejudice after discovering that it could not locate the original note.

In 2013, CitiMortgage executed a Lost Note Affidavit explaining that it was the “lawful owner of the note,” and had not “cancelled, altered, assigned, or hypothecated the note,” but was unable to locate the original note despite a “thorough and diligent search.” CitiMortgage attached a digital copy of the note to the Lost Note Affidavit. The digital copy was not endorsed, but CitiMortgage explained in the Lost Note Affidavit that the digital version was a true and correct copy of the original note that Torres had executed after the digital copy had been made.

CitiMortgage served a Notice of Default and Intention to Foreclose in 2014. After doing so, CitiMortgage assigned the mortgage to Investors Bank, thereby conveying to Investors Bank the right to enforce the note and mortgage executed by Torres. Investors Bank then brought the foreclosure action at issue in opposition to which Torres asserted that Investors Bank could not enforce the note due to the loss of the original.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Investors Bank. The Appellate Division affirmed based upon its interpretation of N.J.S.A. 12A:3-309 (New Jersey’s version of Section 3-309 of the Uniform Commercial Code pertaining to enforcement of lost instruments) and based on the equitable doctrine of unjust enrichment. The Supreme Court granted Torres’ request for review on certification.

The Supreme Court concluded that N.J.S.A. 12A:3-309 does not limit the right to enforce a lost instrument exclusively to the possessor of the instrument at the time it is lost. Rather, Investors Bank’s right to enforce the assigned mortgage and the transferred lost note were supported by New Jersey’s statutes addressing assignments, N.J.S.A. 2A:25-1 and N.J.S.A. 46:9-9, as well as New Jersey’s common law principles regarding assignments. Because the Supreme Court concluded that New Jersey’s statutory and common law dictated the conclusion that Investors Bank could enforce the lost note, the Supreme Court expressly declined to rely on the equitable doctrine of unjust enrichment that the Appellate Division had invoked in support of its decision.

With this threshold legal issue having been resolved in Investors Bank’s favor, the Supreme Court turned to Torres’ challenges to the admissibility of the Lost Note Affidavit. The Supreme Court, like the Appellate Division, concluded that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting and relying on the Lost Note Affidavit. The Supreme Court reasoned that: (1) the Lost Note Affidavit was properly authenticated under N.J.R.E. 901, and it qualified as a business record, an exception to the hearsay rule, under N.J.R.E. 803(c)(6); (2) a business record is admissible even if it was not created by the proponent of the report at trial (i.e., Investors Bank could introduce the Lost Note Affidavit as a business record even though it had been prepared by CitiMortgage); (3) the passage of unknown amount of time between the loss of the original note and execution of the Lost Note Affidavit did not render the Affidavit inadmissible; and (4) the Lost Note Affidavit was not inherently untrustworthy because: (a) it had been prepared more than a year before CitiMortgage assigned the mortgage to Investors Bank; (b) there was no incentive for CitiMortgage to fabricate a claim that it lost the original note and could not locate it despite diligent efforts; and (c) the digital copy of the note set forth the terms that Investors Bank was seeking to enforce.

In summary, an assignee has the same rights to enforce a lost promissory note that the possessor of the note at the time of its loss would have had. However, the assignee must present a sufficient Lost Note Affidavit and competent proof of the terms of the lost note.

Wayne Streibich would like to thank Edward W. Chang and Jonathan F. Ball for their assistance in developing this alert.

[1] Investors Bank v. Torres, ___ N.J. ___ (July 1, 2020). The slip opinion is available on the Court’s website here.

[2] Investors Bank v. Torres, 457 N.J. Super. 23 (App. Div. 2018), certif. granted, 236 N.J. 594 (2019).