Palisades Collection v. Graubard

Citation: Palisades Collection, L.L.C. v. Graubard, 2009 WL 1025176 (N.J. Super. A.D. Apr. 17, 2009).

Factual Background
Defendant Graubard appealed a judgment against him in connection with a delinquent credit card account. Plaintiff, not the original creditor, submitted a New York Times article as well as a Wikipedia entry to show that it had purchased defendant’s debt and therefore had standing to bring suit.

The court held that the purpose of Judicial Notice is to “save time and promote judicial economy by precluding the necessity of proving facts that cannot seriously be disputed and are either generally or universally known.” However, as the appellate court noted, Judicial Notice cannot be used to take notice of the ultimate legal issue in dispute.”

Because the issue of plaintiff’s standing was a central issue in dispute the court held that the articles could not be used to meet plaintiff’s burden through Judicial Notice. The Court went on to note that Wikipedia, by its nature as a “malleable source of information,” could not be treated as a source of information “whose accuracy cannot be reasonably questioned.”