Court Reminds Counsel of Procedure for Citing to Electronically-Filed Documents

On July 31, 2014, Justice Kornreich of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in MBIA Insurance Corp. v. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, 2014 NY Slip Op. 32025(U), raising in a footnote the issue of citation to electronically-filed exhibits.

The decision in MBIA Insurance Corp. is about a discovery dispute. This post, however, takes as its starting point a footnote in the decision discussing citation to electronically-filed exhibits:

The court respectfully requests that when an attorney files all of its exhibits in a single pdf, as Mr. Slarskey did here, he should indicate in his affirmation the page number of the pdf where each exhibit begins. Citations to that pdf in the parties' brief should then reference the relevant pdf page number. Moreover, if possible, pdfs should be searchable.

In a world of electronic filing, it is important for counsel to consider the needs of chambers in how they assemble and file documents. If you file a single document containing dozens of exhibits and give the court little help in figuring out where in that document the court should look, do not be surprised if the court does not find the facts upon which you would rely.

In addition to the citation and searchability points made in the footnote quoted above, you can also make things simpler by filing exhibits separately. Finally, counsel should start familiarizing themselves with the procedures for the use of hyperlinks in e-filed papers, a procedure being tested by New York County Commercial Division Justices Oing and Scarpulla.