Gutierrez-Zacatenco v. Herrera was an admitted-liability rear-end motor vehicle accident that was tried and produced a $5.5 million-plus judgment. Nevada’s Supreme Court vacated that judgment and remanded the case for a new trial because the district court improperly excluded medical records from a similar spinal injury Herrera sustained in another motor vehicle accident just two years earlier.

During discovery, Herrera produced those records. The defense medical experts reviewed and relied upon them to conclude that her medical complaints were related to the earlier accident. At trial, Herrera moved to exclude the earlier records, arguing that the defense: (1) could not authenticate them and (2) did not include them in mandatory pretrial disclosures. The Supreme Court reversed.

First, the district court erred by concluding the records were not authenticated. The district court ruled that the defense had not authenticated them via NRS 52.325. The Supreme Court concluded this was erroneous because NRS 52.325 applies only to medical records obtained via subpoena. The defendant had not obtained the records via subpoena, so NRS 52.325 was inapplicable.

Instead, the authentication requirements of NRS 52.015 applied, and the records met those requirements. First, Herrera had produced the records herself and did not dispute that they accurately reflected medical care she received two years before the subject accident. The documents also bore markings giving the indicia of authenticity. Finally, a custodian of records affidavit confirmed their authenticity.

Herrera asserted the records were properly excluded because the record of her final treatment date was missing, but she created this problem. As the Court noted, “Herrera produced an incomplete copy of her 2017 medical records in discovery, then parlayed that incomplete disclosure into an exclusionary ruling that advantaged her.” The missing record was relevant to weight, but it did not render the produced records inauthentic.

Second, the district court alternatively excluded the records because the defendant had not adequately designated them under NRCP 16.1(a)(1). The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that NRCP 16.1(a)(1) “does not require [a] party to identify records that they only obtained through the opposing party’s discovery production.”

The Supreme Court agreed with the district court that the defendant’s “broad, catchall descriptions” in a pretrial disclosure did not satisfy NRCP 16.1(a)(3). However, this error was harmless. Herrera was aware throughout the case that the defense relied upon the 2017 medical records, which provided sufficient notice.

Ultimately, excluding the 2017 medical records affected the defendant’s substantial rights because a different result might reasonably have been reached had the records been admitted. Accordingly, the case was remanded for a new trial.

Key Takeaways
Although Gutierrez-Zacatenco may appear to be a dry, technical decision, its core concepts are fundamental to nearly any case: What documentation do you have, and can you authenticate it? Even the strongest defense—that the plaintiff sustained the same injury two years earlier—is worthless if the supporting evidence cannot be authenticated and admitted at trial.