Court Finds Documents Produced Incorrectly Because Lacking Bates Numbers
Bates stamp numbering documents is typically considered optional. A New York trial court judge recently issued an order noting that "in matters of [significant] complexity and magnitude, documents produced during the discovery process need to be identifiable by some type of numbering system, e.g., Bates stamp numbering system." The defendant in the case produced paper documents with Bates numbers, but produced electronic documents without them. Although there was apparently no prior ruling or local rule on the issue, the trial judge was "greatly disappointed" that the document production "wasn't done correctly in the first place." The court ordered the parties to produce all documents with a bates number, including requiring the defendant to re-produce all documents previously produced. Read the order here.