A recent Appellate decision clarified an issue that had never squarely been addressed before: whether the cost of preparing and filing a digital appellate record counts as a recoverable “printing” expense now that courts require electronic filing.

Underhill Venture, LLC V. Sarang (decided August 12, 2026, in the Appellate Division, Second Department) addressed whether expenses tied to preparing a digital record, formatting, bookmarking, converting files, and uploading qualify as “reasonable expenses of printing the papers” under C.P.L.R. §8301(a)(6). This was a matter of first impression for the court.

The court held that these digital preparation expenses serve the same essential function that traditional printing costs always have, and that they qualify as reasonable and necessary disbursements under C.P.L.R. §8301(a)(6), even though no paper was actually printed. The shift from physical to digital filing hasn’t eliminated the ability to recover these costs; it has simply changed what “printing” looks like in practice.

As courts across New York continue to move toward mandatory e-filing, this decision confirms that the transition to digital submissions doesn’t strip parties of their ability to recover legitimate litigation costs. Prevailing parties who use appellate printing services to meet the technical filing requirements now imposed by the courts can seek reimbursement for those costs, just as they could when hard copies were the norm.

Giulia R. Marino, Esq.