Judge Erik Pitchal
St. Dominic’s Home sought to terminate parental rights of Maribel A. of her two children. Maribel’s attorney objected to admission into evidence various portions of petitioner’s exhibits. Petitioner alleged Maribel permanently neglected her children within the meaning of the Social Services Law. Maribel conceded petitioner’s exhibits 5, 6, and 7 were business records falling within the exception to hearsay. Yet, she claimed portions of those exhibits were hearsay as they were statements made by someone other than the entrant of the records. The court noted the general rule was that for a statement to be admissible, the informant must be under a contemporaneous business duty of his own to report the fact in question to the entrant and the informant must have personal knowledge of the fact. It stated the mere filing by one business of another’s records was insufficient to qualify them under CPLR 4518. Maribel objected to inclusion of toxicology reports created by a medical laboratory, but the court stated all that was required was to establish the record-keeping practices of the entity in question, not for the proffering party to establish the methodologies to which certain business records were generated. Thus, it granted in part and denied in part Maribel’s motion.
