Bil Kellermann <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>The classic example of how this works is in the Paul Newman classic
>movie "The Verdict." In the movie trial, the hospital submits the
>original medical records in court, the nurse submits a photocopy as
>rebuttal evidence, and the court disallows submission of both the copy

>Best evidence is not an issue, whatsoever, when it is legally necessary
>to produce an original document. In other words, best evidence only
>comes into play when a copy would be sufficient as a matter of law.

It can actually go farther than the example Bill supplied. About 15-20 years ago, there was a hotel in the KC area that suffered a major collapse of a suspended walkway on New Year's Eve because of the large number of people dancing on the walkways.  The evidence pointed to the cause being the "harmonic distortion" caused by the people swaying in rhythm to the music being played.  This is similar to the cause of failure of many bridges decades ago from vehicles travelling across them at the same rate of speed in a rhythmic fashion, as the design was built to support the weight, but no the patterns of motion.

A lawsuit was filed against the architect and designer of the faciilty, blaming him for failing to adequately design the structure to take into account the potential for such a heavy load and the possibility of either an earthquake or another event that could create the stresses that occured.  The builder provided the as-built drawings, plans and specifications that indicated what they used to fabricate and construct the walkways as evidence, however, they had taken custody of the CAD files and made the final changes to the draweings post construction themselves.

The architect and designer provided blueprint copies of the CAD files, which were made after the wet-seal had been applied and signed by the registered structural engineer and architect which reflected what was submitted to the County for approval prior to construction.  These prints (copies) of the approved for construction documents showed clearly that additional cross members and chord bracing were included to ensure the structure would adequately support the weaght and loads that the walkways could possibly receive.

What happened was the hotel owner and builder found the additional bracing "aesthetically unattractive" and decided not to include it in the construction.  It seems that it detracted from the beauty of the view provided from the walkways.

Well, bottom line was the architect and designer were cleared of any wrongdoing and the hotel owner and builder were found equally liable.  This is a case where the electronic records (even those that reflected the final approved for construction state) of the drawings would not have been adequate as evidence, because they didn't carry the engineer's and architects seal and signature... only the hard copies did.

Since this time, I understand some states have instituted a policy accepting an electronic equivalent of a "seal" on drawings as being adequate as evidence that the electronic version is sufficient, bt not all states have instituted these rules yet.

One area that's problematic is when an engineer in one state performs a design for a structure (or facility of some type) in another state and they're required to be licensed in BOTH the state where they are based AND the state where the construction is taking place.  I know both California and Texas have this dual licensing requirement still, and I also know that California has yet to agree to accept the electronic version of the seal.

Larry

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