§ 30.09 EXCEPTION — COLLATERAL MATTERS: FRE 1004(D)

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 30.09. EXCEPTION — COLLATERAL MATTERS: FRE 1004(d)

If the document is not important, the rule doesn't apply. Documents are often referred to during trials, and it would be disruptive and time-consuming to apply the best evidence rule every time a witness alludes to a writing.⁶¹ Collateral matters are "not closely related to a controlling issue."⁶² While collateral matters are "difficult to define with precision, . . . situations arise in which no good purpose is served by production of the original. Examples are the newspaper in an action for the price of publishing defendant's advertisement"⁶³ and "the streetcar transfer of plaintiff claiming status as a passenger."⁶⁴

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Notes:

^[61] See Jackson v. Crews, 873 F.2d 1105, 110 (8th Cir. 1989) ("Even if Jackson had been trying to prove the content of the flyer, he would have been exempted from producing the flyer because the issue was collateral to the principal issue in the trial.").

^[62] See United States v. Duffy, 454 F.2d 809, 812 (5th Cir. 1972) ("[T]he terms of the 'writing' [laundry mark on shirt] were by no means central or critical to the case against Duffy. The crime charged was not possession of a certain article, where the failure to produce the article might prejudice the defense. The shirt was collateral evidence of the crime. Furthermore, it was only one piece of evidence in a substantial case against Duffy.").

^[63] Fed. R. Evid. 1004 advisory committee's note (citing Foster-Holcomb Inv. Co. v. Little Rock Publ'g Co., 236 S.W. 597 (Ark. 1922)).

^[64] Id. (citing Chicago City Ry. Co. v. Carroll, 68 N.E. 1087 (Ill. 1903)).