2006 Nebraska Revised Statutes - § 27-201 — Rule 201. Judicial notice of adjudicative facts; kinds of facts; when discretionary; when mandatory; opportunity to be heard; time of taking notice; instructing jury.

Section 27-201
Rule 201. Judicial notice of adjudicative facts; kinds of facts; when discretionary; when mandatory; opportunity to be heard; time of taking notice; instructing jury.

(1) This rule governs only judicial notice of adjudicative facts.

(2) A judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (a) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (b) capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.

(3) A judge or court may take judicial notice, whether requested or not.

(4) A judge or court shall take judicial notice if requested by a party and supplied with the necessary information.

(5) A party is entitled upon timely request to an opportunity to be heard as to the propriety of taking judicial notice and the tenor of the matter noticed. In the absence of prior notification, the request may be made after judicial notice has been taken.

(6) Judicial notice may be taken at any stage of the proceeding.

(7) In a civil action or proceeding, the judge shall instruct the jury to accept as conclusive any fact judicially noticed. In a criminal case, the judge shall instruct the jury that it may, but is not required to, accept as conclusive any fact judicially noticed.

Source:

Laws 1975, LB 279, § 7

Annotations:

A fact is adjudicative if the fact affects the determination of a controverted issue in litigation. State v. Vejvoda, 231 Neb. 668, 438 N.W.2d 461 (1989).

To be judicially noticed, a fact must be uniform and fixed with no doubt as to the fact itself or that it is a matter of common knowledge. Indoor Recreation Enterprises, Inc. v. Douglas, 194 Neb. 715, 235 N.W.2d 398 (1975).2. Judicial notice

A trial court cannot take judicial notice of disputed allegations. In re Interest of N.M. and J.M., 240 Neb. 690, 484 N.W.2d 77 (1992).

A trial court may use appropriate judicial notice in resolving a motion for summary judgment. Gottsch v. Bank of Stapleton, 235 Neb. 816, 458 N.W.2d 443 (1990).

The existence of court records and certain judicial action reflected in a court's records are an appropriate subject for judicial notice. Gottsch v. Bank of Stapleton, 235 Neb. 816, 458 N.W.2d 443 (1990).

An entire trial record cannot be said to fall within the definition of a judicially noted fact as set out in subsection (2) of this section. State v. Ryan, 233 Neb. 74, 444 N.W.2d 610 (1989).

When a fact is neither generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction nor capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned, judicial notice of an adjudicative fact is improper. State v. Vejvoda, 231 Neb. 668, 438 N.W.2d 461 (1989).

In a suit on a promissory note, the trial court may take judicial notice of a security agreement signed by the parties contemporaneously with the note when the agreement had been attached as an exhibit to a petition in a separate subsequent action between the same parties and in the same court. State Security Savings Co. v. Pelster, 207 Neb. 158, 296 N.W.2d 702 (1980).

Defendant's claim that a city prosecutor is without authority to prosecute using wiretap evidence was rejected and court took judicial notice of the status and official positions of public officers in the court's jurisdiction. State v. Kolosseus, 198 Neb. 404, 253 N.W.2d 157 (1977).3. Miscellaneous

The existence of court records and certain judicial action reflected in a court's record are, in accordance with subsection (2)(b) of this section, facts which are capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned. A court may, therefore, judicially notice existence of its records and the records of another court, but judicial notice of facts reflected in a court's records is subject to the doctrine of collateral estoppel or of res judicata. Dairyland Power Co-op v. State Bd. of Equal. and assessment, 238 Neb. 696, 472 N.W.2d 363 (1991).

Judicial notice of facts reflected in a court's records is subject to the doctrine of collateral estoppel or of res judicata. Gottsch v. Bank of Stapleton, 235 Neb. 816, 458 N.W.2d 443 (1990).

Judicial notice of an adjudicative fact is a species of evidence, which, if relevant as an ultimate fact or a fact from which an ultimate fact may be inferred, is received without adherence to the Nebraska Evidence Rules otherwise applicable to admissibility of evidence and establishes a fact without formal evidentiary proof. State v. Vejvoda, 231 Neb. 668, 438 N.W.2d 461 (1989).

~Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska