Norcon v. Kotowski
Supreme Court of Alaska
971 P.2d 158 (1999)
Kotowski (plaintiff) alleged her Norcon (defendant) supervisor, Posehn, sexually harassed her during Exxon Valdez cleanup work, and after she was fired for alcohol consumption the same day Posehn was also fired, she sued Norcon for sexual harassment. At trial, she introduced an investigator's memo containing statements from two other Norcon employees describing a pattern of Posehn using alcohol to pursue sexual activity with subordinates; Norcon objected that these statements within the business-record memo were inadmissible hearsay since the employees weren't acting in the regular course of business when interviewed, and after the jury found for Kotowski, Norcon appealed the evidentiary ruling.
Whether a business record containing hearsay statements made by persons not acting in the regular course of business is admissible if those statements independently qualify under another exception to the hearsay rule.