## Facts

- Midwest Fireworks Manufacturing Co., an importer and distributor, brought consumer fireworks into the United States.
- Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) compliance officers collected fireworks samples from Midwest and forwarded them for laboratory testing.
- CPSC technicians conducted standardized tests and generated laboratory reports as part of routine agency operations; technicians performed thousands of similar tests annually.
- Based on the test results, CPSC personnel concluded that 79 firework products were hazardous and noncompliant with federal safety regulations (including limits on explosive charge and performance requirements).
- The CPSC notified Midwest of alleged violations and sought voluntary corrective action, including destruction or export of noncomplying items.
- Midwest did not provide an adequate corrective action plan, prompting the United States to seek a permanent injunction to stop distribution of hazardous fireworks and require destruction or export.
- At the injunction hearing, the government offered sample-collection reports, laboratory test reports, compliance evaluations and memoranda, and agency letters to Midwest; Midwest objected that these documents contained inadmissible hearsay and multiple layers of out-of-court statements.

## Issues

1. Whether CPSC sample-collection and laboratory test reports were admissible as business records under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6) even though they were generated by a government enforcement agency and later used in litigation.
2. Whether the same materials, including investigative findings and agency correspondence, were admissible as public records under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8), and whether any circumstances showed lack of trustworthiness.
3. Whether admitting the CPSC documents was an abuse of discretion that prejudiced Midwest and undermined the permanent injunction.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the permanent injunction.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the CPSC documents under Rule 803(6), Rule 803(8), or both.
- The court rejected the claim that the records were untrustworthy merely because they could support enforcement litigation, emphasizing they were created through routine, standardized agency testing and documentation.
- The court concluded Midwest failed to show prejudicial evidentiary error warranting reversal.

## Legal Principles

- Government agency records can qualify as Rule 803(6) business records when made contemporaneously by knowledgeable employees, kept in the ordinary course of regularly conducted agency activity, and produced as a regular practice, even if they may later be used in litigation.
- Under Rule 803(8), public agency reports of activities, matters observed under legal duty, and factual findings from authorized investigations are admissible in civil cases unless the opponent shows circumstances indicating a lack of trustworthiness.
- Documents containing multiple levels of hearsay may be admitted if each level of statements is independently supported by a hearsay exclusion or exception.
- Evidentiary rulings are reviewed for abuse of discretion; reversal requires showing both error and an effect on substantial rights.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit upheld a permanent injunction requiring Midwest to destroy or export noncompliant fireworks and cease violating federal safety standards, concluding that routine CPSC sampling, testing, and enforcement records were properly admitted under the business-records and public-records hearsay exceptions and that Midwest failed to show an abusive or prejudicial evidentiary ruling.


United States v. Midwest Fireworks Mfg. Co., 248 F.3d 563 (6th Cir. 2001)