VAZQUEZ HELDMAN
  • Home
  • Areas of Practice
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Construction Law & Litigation
    • Business Law & Litigation
    • Healthcare & Pharmacy Law
  • Contact
  • Blog

News & ​Notes

Estimates of Repairs can be Admitted as Business Records

3/26/2021

 
Where an owner of a property sues a contractor in a construction litigation case, the burden of proof is upon the owner to both prove that the work was defective and what it will cost to have the defective work repaired.  In an unpublished decision from February 2021, the Appellate Division noted that even without testimony from the contractor who prepared the repair estimate, the repair estimate may still be admissible as a business record exception to the rule against hearsay.  The court noted that the repair estimate, "may have been admissible as a business record if: (a) the author prepared the document in the regular course of business, contemporaneously with its estimate, and not for litigation, (b) the business regularly made such estimates, and (c) the method, purpose or circumstances of preparation did not indicate that it was not trustworthy.  Accordingly, while the better evidence would still be to bring in the contractor for live testimony, the court found that the trial court (among other things) should have at least considered if the estimate was admissible as a business record and therefore the case was reversed and remanded.  (Olivera v. NJ Asphalt Services)

Comments are closed.

    Authors

    Peter J. Vazquez, Jr.
    Jeffrey Heldman
    ​Steven Vazquez

    Archives

    February 2021
    December 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019

    Categories

    All
    Business Law
    Construction Law
    Consumer Fraud Act
    Healthcare Law
    Land Use & Zoning
    Real Estate Law

    RSS Feed

Office Phone
973-434-7062

Peter J. Vazquez, Jr.
pvazquez@vazquezfirm.com

Jeffrey Heldman
jheldman@vazquezfirm.com

Steven Vazquez
svazquez@vazquezfirm.com

​Copyright © 2017-2021    ​
  • Home
  • Areas of Practice
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Construction Law & Litigation
    • Business Law & Litigation
    • Healthcare & Pharmacy Law
  • Contact
  • Blog