## Facts

- U-Haul maintained layered liability coverage for two policy years (1999–2000 and 2000–2001): a $25,000 self-insured retention, coverage from Republic Western up to $7,000,000 per occurrence above the retention, and an upper excess layer from Lumbermens up to $13,000,000 per occurrence.
- U-Haul settled three claims that implicated the insurance layers; Republic Western and Lumbermens funded defense and settlement costs under reservations of rights.
- In ensuing coverage litigation, U-Haul and Republic Western sought to establish amounts Republic Western paid toward its policy limits, relevant to whether Lumbermens’s excess layer was triggered.
- At a federal jury trial, plaintiffs offered computer-generated summaries of Republic Western claim-payment data.
- Republic Western’s claims manager testified about the insurer’s computerized claim-payment system, how payment entries were recorded and maintained in the ordinary course of business, and how the summaries were generated from that system.
- The district court admitted the summaries over Lumbermens’s objections and entered judgment for U-Haul and Republic Western.
- Lumbermens appealed, challenging (as relevant to the published decision) only the admission of the computer-generated summaries.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by admitting computer-generated summaries of claim payments under Federal Rule of Evidence 1006.
2. Whether the underlying computerized payment records (and resulting summaries) satisfied the business-records requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6).
3. Whether the summaries were properly authenticated under Federal Rule of Evidence 901 through qualified-witness testimony describing the computer system and report generation.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the computer-generated payment summaries.
- The summaries were permissible under Rule 1006 because they summarized voluminous records, were grounded in admissible underlying data, and the opposing party had an opportunity to examine the underlying materials.
- The underlying electronic payment records qualified as business records under Rule 803(6) based on testimony establishing regular, contemporaneous recording in the ordinary course of claim handling.
- The summaries were adequately authenticated under Rule 901 by testimony from a qualified witness familiar with the system’s operation and the method used to generate the summaries.

## Legal Principles

- Rule 1006 permits summary evidence of voluminous records when the underlying materials are admissible, the summary fairly reflects them, and the underlying materials are made available for examination by the opposing party.
- Computerized claim-payment records can qualify as Rule 803(6) business records when a qualified witness establishes that entries are made at or near the time of payment, by persons with knowledge (or from such information), kept in the ordinary course of business, and created as a regular practice.
- Rule 901 authentication of computer-generated records or summaries may be satisfied by testimony from a knowledgeable witness explaining how data are entered, stored, and retrieved, and how the exhibit was generated from that system.
- A district court’s evidentiary rulings on admitting computerized business-record summaries are reviewed for abuse of discretion.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit upheld the admission of Republic Western’s computer-generated claim-payment summaries, concluding that qualified-witness testimony established the reliability, business-record foundation, and authentication needed to admit the underlying electronic records and their Rule 1006 summaries.


U-Haul Int’l, Inc. v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 576 F.3d 1040 (9th Cir. 2009)