Art. 1006 Summaries

When a case involves a huge stack of documents, recordings, or photos that would be too hard to review in court page by page, the person presenting them can use a chart, summary, or calculation instead. This makes it easier for judges and juries to understand large amounts of information without going through every single page in the courtroom.

There's a catch, though. The original documents or copies must still be available so the other side can look them over or make copies before trial. This gives everyone a fair chance to check that the summary is accurate and nothing important was left out or changed.

The judge also has the power to order that the original materials be brought to court, even if a summary is being used. This helps make sure the summary can be checked against the real documents if there's ever a question about whether it's fair and correct.