GETTING YOUR DOCUMENTS INTO EVIDENCE

It is important in your proof to get your documents into evidence. This can be accomplished in multiple ways and the procedures for doing so vary depending whether you are in the district court or the circuit court.

District Court Procedure: Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article 10-104 provides in pertinent part as follows: 60 days before trial you must serve pursuant to MD Rule 1-321a notice of intent to offer medical records and billing statements and provide a list to identify each record and the actual report/bill. Also you must then file with the court a Notice of Service which list and identifies each record. Upon completion of this task it is no longer necessary for you to bring in an expert to testify on causation or that the medical cost were fair reasonable and necessary. Also, it is no longer necessary to subpoena records custodians to court to have the records entered into evidence as business records. it is important to note that you can use this same procedure in the event your case is moved to the circuit court on the defendant's request for jury trial. Provided you do not seek damages in excess of the district court limit of $25,000.00.

Circuit Court Procedure: In the circuit court I use each of the following methods:

1. Stipulation by Letter. I simply forward a letter to defendant's counsel enclosing the medical records and bills and ask that they agree that the records and bills are authentic and admissible. the stipulation makes clear that the defendant's counsel is not agreeing the injury is casually connected or that the cost are fair, reasonable, and necessary. Only that the records are what they purport to be.

2. Request for Admission of Fact: I do not generally find that procedure functional. I mention it because it is available. However, generally in my experience defendant's counsel simply deny the allegations. While I recognize a failure to deny is an admission, I have not yet seen a situation where defendant's counsel fell asleep at the wheel and failed to deny. The rule has no teeth as an unreasonable denial is not subject to sanction. However you can try to recover cost later.

3. Stipulation by Pre-trial Statement. You will eventually appear before the court for a settlement conference. This is a good time to get a stipulation to your documents. Defendant's counsel are in my experience very professional attorneys. They have no reason not to agree the records are authentic. Additionally, they have no interest in appearing unreasonable to the court. You simply list your documents in the pre-trial statement and request the court to inquire if defendant's counsel has any objection to the admissibility.

4. Expert Testimony. When you review further into the web sight you will find a section on expert testimony. You can also use the expert as a way to get your records into evidence. I will mention the records will come into evidence however using this method the records do not come in as proof of injury, they come in only as the basis for the expert's opinion. It is necessary to have the expert testify that he reviewed the records, he relied upon their content in reaching his opinion and that it is customary in his profession to rely upon such information.

5. MD Rules 5-803(6) and 5-902(11) . This is my favorite means of having records entered into evidence. It requires advanced planning as the records properly must be support by the affidavit of the records custodian. To proceed in this manner order your records; secure the custodian certificates; forward the medical records and bills to defendant's counsel; and file a notice of service to the court. As an extra measure of safety I also include with filing a list of the records by date and service and cost incurred. 

6. Subpoena. Simply subpoena the records custodians to appear in court with the records.

7. Defendant's Counsel Records Deposition.  Once defendant's counsel issues the records deposition I forward a letter requesting a copy of the records produced. You can follow receipt of the documents with the Request for Admission of Fact, but again in practical terms simply a call the defendant's counsel should be sufficient to get a stipulation. Again in my experience the defendant bar has always been very professional in these situation.