Rule 1006 Summaries to Prove Content

When there's too much paperwork or too many records for a judge or jury to look at one by one, a party can use a summary, chart, or calculation instead. This lets someone show the main points from a huge stack of documents, recordings, or photos without making everyone sit through all of it.

Before using this shortcut, the party relying on the summary has to let the other side look at the actual documents or recordings, or copy them, at a reasonable time and place. This gives the other party a chance to check that the summary is accurate and fair. If they want to challenge it, they can go back to the original material and compare it.

The judge also has the power to order the original documents brought to court, even after a summary has been used. This protects against someone using a summary to hide something or twist the facts. In short, summaries can save time in court, but they can't replace the real records if someone wants to check them.