When a party does not comply with an order to produce a document, how may the court accept the other side's assertions about what that document records?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the court's order directing a party to produce documents, which of the document-production provisions that order was made under, and the other party's written pleading setting out what the documents contain, since the effect the provision describes is directed at that party's assertions about the document's contents.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading follows the provision as written: where a party does not comply with an order made under the first, second and fourth paragraphs of the document-production provision, the court may recognise the opposing party's assertions about what the document records as true.
Another reading stresses that the effect reaches only non-compliance with an order made under those specified paragraphs, so an order resting on other parts of the production rules does not bring this consequence, and the provision does not itself say how much of an assertion the court should credit.
Your judgment
How can the file confirm that the order disobeyed was made under the specified paragraphs, and not under another kind of production order?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change which orders carry this effect or to make the recognition automatic, or if a court decision explains how far a court may exercise this power.