Ries Biologicals, Inc. v. Bank of Santa Fe
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
780 F.2d 888 (10th Cir. 1986)
Ries Biologicals (plaintiff) regularly supplied medical equipment to Dialysis Management Systems (DMS) on credit, but stopped shipping when DMS fell behind on payments. Ries resumed shipping on credit only after the Bank of Santa Fe's (defendant) senior vice president, Philip Levitt, orally promised the bank would guarantee payment on DMS's future orders. When the bank later refused to pay, Ries sued and sought to introduce Levitt's oral guarantee; the trial court admitted it over the bank's hearsay objection, and the bank appealed.
Whether an oral statement guaranteeing payment is hearsay when offered to prove only that the statement was made, not that the guarantee itself was true.