Section 16.28 Missouri Department of Revenue Records

• Library: Evidence 2017

a. (§16.28) Missouri Department of Revenue Records

Driver’s license revocations have generated a good deal of litigation. The MoDOR (Missouri Department of Revenue) has to show, for example, the driver’s accumulated points or other information from the driver’s record, such as prior driving convictions. The information is found in the MoDOR’s records, but it can be a logistical difficulty to produce witnesses all around the state to qualify the records for admission. Before 1995 and 1996, § 302.312, RSMo, provided that certified records of the MoDOR were “admissible as evidence . . . in the same manner and with like effect as the originals.”

In Hadlock v. Director of Revenue, 860 S.W.2d 335 (Mo. banc 1993), the Court held that the statute only allowed copies to be used in lieu of originals—answering any objection on best evidence grounds—but did not authorize admission of the records without a sponsoring witness. The legislature amended the statute to provide that certified copies of the MoDOR’s records “shall be admissible as evidence in all courts of this state and in all administrative proceedings.” Section 302.312.1, RSMo 2016.

The quoted language means that now the MoDOR’s records, when properly certified, are admissible without further proof. See Doughty v. Dir. of Revenue, 387 S.W.3d...