What is the scope of the business records exception under Rule 803(6)?

• A. Records of acts, events, conditions, opinions, and diagnoses made in the regular course of business at or near the time they occurred by a person with knowledge.
• B. Only financial records kept for tax purposes.
• C. Any writing prepared for litigation.
• D. Letters between managers long after events.

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is that the business records exception covers records created in the normal course of business that capture acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, made at or near the time by someone with knowledge, and kept in the ordinary course. This description matches a wide range of routine business documents, not just financial or tax papers, as long as they’re generated as part of regular business practice and contemporaneous with what they describe.

That’s why the description describing records of such activities kept in the regular course at or near the time by a knowledgeable person is the correct scope. It emphasizes: (1) the activity or information recorded, (2) contemporaneity, (3) the recorder’s knowledge, and (4) maintenance in the regular records of the business. The other options fall short because they’re too narrow or misstate the requirement: records aren’t limited to tax-related financial papers; writings created specifically for litigation aren’t automatically covered unless they would have been made in the ordinary course anyway; and communications created long after events don’t meet the timing requirement.