The Seventh Circuit, in this civil case, holds that the District Court’s decision that, once a transcript of a guilty plea was admitted into evidence, that the District Court could take judicial notice of the factual allegations that were the basis of the plea was mistaken. The appellate court held that, under Federal Rule of Evidence 201, a court may take judicial notice only of facts that are beyond reasonable dispute.
Since all of the facts surrounding the arrest that led to this lawsuit were in dispute, nothing in the plea was subject to judicial notice.
The 7th Circuit decided that, although it was error and in fact, plain error, since it was invited by the plaintiffs, they could not complain of this on appeal.
The case is White v. Hefel.