A subsequent remedial measure is a measure that was (i) taken after an injury or harm that was allegedly caused by some event, and that (ii) if taken before such an event (such as the breaking of a ladder) would have made the injury or harm less likely to occur.

Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(3) ("A statement which was at the time of its making so far contrary to the declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest, or so far tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability, or to render invalid a claim by the declarant against another, that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would...A statement qualifies as a statement against interest for purposes of the hearsay exception for statements against interest only if the statement, at the time the declarant made it, was so contrary to the declarant's interest that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made if the declarant had believed the statement to be untrue.

Fed. R. Evid. 601 ("However, in civil actions and proceedings, with respect to an element of a claim or defense as to which State law supplies the rule of decision, the competency of a witness shall be determined in accordance with State law.").State witness competence rules apply in federal civil actions with respect to elements of claims or defenses for which state substantive law supplies the rule of decision.

Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, pin? (2006).texf