Arnold D. Kamen v. Young

Citation: Arnold D. Kamen & Co. v. Young, 466 S.W.2d 381 (Ct. App. 1971).

Young brought an action to recover commissions allegedly due from his employment with appellants. A key issue was whether Young had entered into an agreement with defendants that would render him financially responsible for any customer deficiencies. If so, the difference would come out of his commissions. The jury found that Young assumed responsibility for only selected individual customer deficits, and rendered judgment for him on the remainder of the commissions claimed due.

During trial, defendants had sought unsuccessfully to introduce a computer-prepared statement of accounts showing the deficiencies for which Young should be held liable. The defendants argued for admissibility under the Business Records Act, contending that such records were prepared during the normal course of business. Young objected to the evidence on the ground that the computer data was not prepared by someone having personal knowledge of the account.

The appellate court affirmed the judgment, agreeing with the trial court that the statute did not apply since the person preparing the computer data had no knowledge of the actual deficit accounts.