78B-5-615 - Parol evidence of contents of writings -- When admissible. - Utah Statutes

78B-5-615. Parol evidence of contents of writings -- When admissible.
(1) The contents of a writing shall be proved by the original writing unless:
(a) the original has been lost or destroyed, in which case proof of the loss or destructionshall be made first;
(b) the original is in the possession of the party against whom the evidence is offered andthe party fails to produce it after reasonable notice;
(c) the original is a record or other document in the custody of a public officer;
(d) the original has been recorded, and the record or a certified copy of the record ismade in accordance with the law governing the writing offered; or
(e) the original consists of numerous accounts or other documents which cannot beexamined in court without great loss of time, and the evidence sought from them is only thegeneral result of the whole.
(2) If any business, institution, member of a profession or calling, or any department oragency of government, in the regular course of business or activity has kept or recorded anymemorandum, writing, entry, print, representation or combination, of any act, transaction,occurrence, or event, and in the regular course of business has caused any or all of the same to berecorded, copied, or reproduced by any photographic, photostatic, microfilm, microcard,miniature photographic, or other process which accurately reproduces or forms a durable mediumfor so reproducing the original, the original may be destroyed in the regular course of businessunless its preservation is required by law. The reproduction, when satisfactorily identified, is asadmissible in evidence as the original itself in any judicial or administrative proceeding whetherthe original is in existence or not, an enlargement or facsimile of the reproduction is likewiseadmissible in evidence if the original reproduction is in existence and available for inspectionunder direction of court. The introduction of a reproduced record, enlargement or facsimile, doesnot preclude admission of the original.
(3) In the cases mentioned in Subsections (1)(c) and (d), a copy of the original, or of therecord, shall be produced. In those mentioned in Subsections (1)(a) and (b), either a copy or oralevidence of the contents shall be given.

Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 3, 2008 General Session