Schindler v. Seiler

Dr. Jay Schindler (plaintiff) sued Joe Seiler (defendant) for defamation, alleging Seiler told Dr. Kerry White that Schindler was a bad doctor who had paralyzed four patients, but both Seiler and White denied Seiler ever made that statement. Schindler sought to testify that White told him, 'Joe Seiler is downstairs right now and just told me that you paralyzed four patients,' though White's actual testimony was only that he told Schindler about disparaging comments Seiler had made because White was concerned about Schindler's reputation -- not that he relayed the statement immediately or spontaneously; the district court excluded Schindler's testimony as hearsay not falling under the present-sense-impression exception and granted Seiler summary judgment.