In a victory for creditors, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals recently reversed a trial judge’s decision to exclude a copy of a promissory note from evidence simply because it was not an original. Without the promissory note in evidence, the creditor lost its case at trial, so the higher court reversed the judgment for the debtor and sent the case back to the lower court for a new trial. The court explained that the relevant rule of evidence permits a copy to be introduced into evidence “to the same extent as an original” unless there is a “genuine question” as to the authenticity of the original (e.g., it might be a forgery) or in the circumstances it would somehow be unfair to admit the copy instead of the original. Notably , the availability of the original is not part of the test. While the creditor may eventually win and even get repaid, it’s worth noting that it could have avoided the cost of an appeal, at least on this issue, had it retained and produced the original note. Pepin Manufacturing, Inc. v. ESwallow USA, LLC (Ala. Ct. Civ. App. Oct. 2, 2015).
