GREGORY CHANDLER - INSURANCE FRAUD

While preparing a brief last week, I came across an interesting case involving insurance fraud.  In United States v. Danford, 435 F.3d 682 (7th Cir. 2005) the defendant was convicted of insurance fraud after staging a fake robbery of his jewelry store.  At his trial, one of the employees testified to a statement made by the store manager, indicating that the defendant had asked the manager how to disarm the store alarm.  The store manager's statement was made well before the robbery occurred. 

Rejecting the argument that the store manager's statement was testimonial the Court stated that "the conversation between [the witness] and the store manager is more akin to a casual remark. 

Accordingly, the Seventh Circuit held that the district court did not err in admitting testimony under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(1), the present-sense impression exception to the hearsay rule. 

GREGORY CHANDLER, Attorney at Law