Car accidents are no laughing matter, but it’s hard keeping a straight face when listening to this voicemail…
From a legal standpoint, this funny voicemail is interesting. Most people have heard of a concept called “hearsay.” Hearsay is any statement made outside of court that is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. If you ask a lawyer to tell you about hearsay, they will likely roll their eyes and take a deep breath before they launch into the countless exceptions and exemptions to the rule. Two of those exceptions are called “present sense impression” and “excited utterance.” Present sense impression is when a person is describing an event to another individual while it is happening in real time. The reason why it is admissible is because it is thought that the person does not have time to reflect and distort the situation they are viewing. Excited utterances are admissible for the same reason and is often confused with present sense impression. An excited utterance is a statement made while under the stress of the event they are describing. It need not involve exclamation points but it often does have one.
What is potentially funnier than this voicemail would be this incident going to trial and a jury getting to listen to the entire voicemail, because it is admissible under the hearsay exceptions. Umbrellas and a hardback NVI bible admitted into evidence as exhibit A and exhibit B, no amount of “order in the court” commands and gavel bangs from the Judge could control this jury!