II - Judicial Notice & III - Presumptions in Civil Cases

Rule 201: Judicial Notice Allowed

• Allows courts to recognize indisputable facts that are generally known or readily verified without formal proof

• Two types of notice

  • Adjudicative (case-specific)

  • Legislative (policy/general)

• 201 only applies to adjudicative!

• Mandatory when requested by a party and the court is provided the necessary information

• Court can also take judicial notice on its own

• May take JN at any stage of the proceeding

• Civil vs. Criminal

  • Civil → juries must accept the fact as true

  • Criminal → juries may, but aren’t required, to accept it

Rule 301: Presumptions in Civil Cases Generally

• Presumptions shift the burden of production, not persuasion

  • Inference → logical guess

    • Conclusion you can draw from evidence but don’t have to

  • Presumption → fact the law tells you is true

Rule 302: Applying State Law

• In a civil case, a federal court must use the presumption laws of the state whose law governs the underlying claim

  • Most often applies in cases where the court has diversity jurisdiction

• Presumption = assuming a fact is true if another related fact is proven

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