Business Records Exception to the Hearsay Rule Established Possession of Note at the Time Foreclosure Was Commenced

The Third Department determined plaintiff bank demonstrated it had standing to foreclose by sufficient proof it had possession of the underlying note at the time the foreclosure proceeding was commenced. Proof of possession of the note was by an affidavit invoking the business records exception to the hearsay rule. The court noted that evidence a document received from another entity was filed does not qualify the documents as business records. Here, however, the affidavit included sufficient additional information to demonstrate the applicability of the exception:

While “the mere filing of papers received from other entities, even if they are retained in the regular course of business, is insufficient to qualify the documents as business records” …, such records are nonetheless admissible “if the recipient can establish personal knowledge of the maker’s business practices and procedures, or that the records provided by the maker were incorporated into the recipient’s own records or routinely relied upon the recipient in its business” … . To be admissible, these documents should carry the indicia of reliability ordinarily associated with business records … . Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v Monica, 2015  Slip Op 06453, 3rd Dept 8-6-15