One possible scenario is that the the case has been divided early on,
and that the "late" document which you see is in fact a divisional
publication. Of course, this can happen much later, in which case the
obvious delay sets alarm bells ringing, but it can happen that the
"daughter" is published sufficiently close to the "parent" that it is
easy to overlook the fact that it is a divisional without a second look.
Another instance where I have noticed delays occuring is in PCT transfer
cases. Some of the non-English-French-German ones, where the applicant
has to provide a translation, do get late. Equally, some of the
non-published cases do not appear in the Bulletin under their EP number
until much later than the Chapter I deadline, but not late enough to
indicate that they have gone the Chapter II route. An explanation
offered by one of the attorneys that I worked with, was that the EPO had
"forgotten about it" [?!]
Hope this helps.
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