Consequences of submitting only copies of documents to the case file – a commentary on the judgment of the Court of Appeals in Lublin of 29 November 2023, III AUa 1095/22

In the decision under review, the Court of Appeals in Lublin addressed the issue of the consequences of the submission by a party to the proceedings to the evidence of the case only copies of documents, and not their originals. There is no doubt that the subject of multiplication of documents has already been the subject of case law on many occasions, and the evidentiary power of copies of documents has already been clearly defined. What is significant, however, is that the judgment under review does not only address the issue of the status of a copy of a document and its evidentiary power, but also admits that in the absence of the existence of an original document, its copy may be the only source for establishing the facts of the case. Thus, the statement in question is of considerable importance from a practical perspective, primarily for determining the situation of a party to the proceedings who has only copies of documents, while it is from them that he derives his claims.