Question
Hearsay Anna Sorfer died from injuries she suffered when run over by a bus, and her surviving husband Ira has brought a wrongful death action
Hearsay
Anna Sorfer died from injuries she suffered when run over by a bus, and her surviving husband Ira has brought a wrongful death action against the Municipal Transit Authority, operator of the bus. Under applicable law, the wrongful death claim belongs to Ira as and as Anna's next of kin, and he is entitled to recover for loss of companionship and expected income. Anna was a dentist with significant income. In an attempt to show that in fact Ira would have had no reasonable expectation of future financial benefit if Anna had survived, and to suggest that the quality of companionship between the two was not what might be expected between husband and wife, the Transit Authority offers in evidence a passage from Anna's will. Anna had executed the will, with the assistance of legal counsel, only a few weeks before her death. In it she had written as follows:
Whereas I have been a faithful and loving wife to Ira , while he has reciprocated my tender feelings with utter cruelty, disrespect, and indifference, and whereas I have foolishly spent my best years trying to make him happy and to provide a comfortable home for us while he took me for granted and wasted the resources gathered by what was supposed to be our joint endeavor upon selfish and trivial pursuits every chance he got, now therefore I limit my request to Ira to $1, which is more than he deserves.
Ira objects that Anna's will is hearsay when offered for the stated purpose. Is it ? Why or Why not ?
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