§ 14A.057.Submission of Evidence

The written-evidence provision, carried across from the inmate chapter with one drafting change.

The court may request a person with an admissible document or admissible testimony to submit a copy of the document or a written statement stating the substance of the testimony.

The statement must be under oath or made as an unsworn declaration, and a document must carry a custodian’s certification executed under oath that the copy is correct, addressing any other admissibility matter the court requires.

A person submitting a statement or document is not required to appear.

The provision does more work in this chapter than in its counterpart. The office and its contracted facilities hold the treatment records, incident reports and staff accounts that most claims turn on, and their custodians would otherwise be attending hearings rather than working.

It also fits the remote-proceeding provision that precedes it. A proceeding conducted over the Internet is easier to run on documents than on a queue of witnesses connecting from different places.

The individual must be provided with a copy of each written statement or document not later than the 14th day before the hearing.

The wording differs slightly from the inmate chapter, which says "not later than 14 days before" — "the 14th day before" is the more precise formulation, and it is how the modern drafting convention states a deadline.

The substance is the same, and so is its importance. Written evidence submitted by people who never appear is only fair if the person facing it has time to read and answer it.

"The court shall require" places the duty on the court rather than on whoever submitted the material.