LOCAL RULE 5
FILING WITH THE COURT
5.0 CASE MANAGEMENT/ELECTRONIC CASE FILING (CM/ECF) SYSTEM.
a. Documents to be filed by Electronic Means. Except as otherwise provided in this
Rule 5.0, all documents to be filed with the court by attorneys must be filed by electronic means in a manner authorized by the Clerk. The instructions for filing civil and criminal pleadings electronically in CM/ECF can be found in the “Administrative Procedures for Filing, Signing, and Verifying Documents by Electronic Means” available on the Court’s website. Pro se parties are not authorized to file electronically without permission from the court. An attorney may apply to the assigned judge for permission to file conventionally rather than electronically.
b. Filing by Electronic Means. The filing of any document electronically following the
procedures set forth in this Rule and the Administrative Procedures constitutes filing for all purposes under the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure.
5.1 FILING OF DISCOVERY. Disclosures under F.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(1) or (2) and the following discovery requests and responses must not be filed until they are used in the proceeding or the court orders filing: (a) depositions, (b) interrogatories, (c) request for documents or to permit entry upon land, and (d) requests for admission. Disclosures under F.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(3), however, must be promptly filed as provided in Rule 26 (a)(3).
Any use of discovery materials in court in connection with a motion, a pretrial conference under Rule 16, or otherwise, will require the filing of the discovery materials. To file discovery, counsel must attach a signed statement certifying that the discovery documents have been either used in the proceedings or ordered filed by the court.
5.2 ACCEPTANCE OF FACSIMILE TRANSMISSIONS. Filings by facsimile transmission will only be accepted in compelling circumstances and only with prior authorization from any district judge, magistrate judge, the clerk or chief deputy of the court. The routine filing of pleadings will not be authorized by facsimile transmission.
5.3 AFTER FILING FACSIMILE TRANSMISSIONS. After receiving authorization to file pleadings by facsimile transmission, counsel shall immediately file the original pleading by conventional means. Upon receipt in the Clerk's Office the original will be filed nunc pro tunc to the receipt date of the facsimile transmission copy. The court may, at its election, act upon the facsimile transmission copy prior to receipt of the original.
In the event that a document is transmitted by facsimile machine without prior authorization, the filing party will be notified that the documents will not be accepted for filing and that filing must instead be accomplished by conventional means.
5.4 PRIVACY PROTECTION FOR FILINGS MADE WITH THE COURT.
a. Redacted Filings. Unless the court orders otherwise in an electronic or paper filing with
the court that contains an individual’s social security number, taxpayer-identification number, or birth date, the name of an individual known to be a minor, or a financial-account number, or the home address of an individual, a party or nonparty making the filing may include only:(1) The last four digits of the social security number and taxpayer-identification number;
(2) The year of the individual’s birth;
(3) The minor’s initials;
(4) The last four digits of the financial-account number; and
(5) The city and state of the home address. (This restriction applies only
in criminal cases)b. Exemptions from the Redaction Requirement. The redaction requirement does not apply to the following:
(1) A financial account number that identifies the property allegedly subject to forfeiture in a forfeiture proceeding;
(2) The record of an administrative or agency proceeding;*
(3) The official record of a state-court proceeding;
(4) The record of a court or tribunal, if that record was not subject to the redaction requirement when originally filed;
(5) A filing covered by Rule 5.4(c);
(6) A pro se filing in an action brought under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241, 2254, or 2255;
(7) A court filing that is related to a criminal matter or investigation and that is
prepared before the filing of a criminal charge or is not filed as part of any
docketed criminal case;(8) An arrest or search warrant; and
(9) A crime charging document and an affidavit filed in support of any such charging document.
c. Filings Made Under Seal. The court may order that a filing be made under seal without redaction. The court may later unseal the filing or order the person who made the filing to file a redacted version for the public record.
d. Protective Orders. For good cause, the court may by order in a case:
(1) Require redaction of additional information; or
(2) Limit or prohibit a nonparty’s remote electronic access to a document filed with the court.
e. Option for Additional Unredacted Filing Under Seal. A person making a redacted filing may also file an unredacted copy under seal. The court must retain the unredacted copy as part of the record.
f. Option for Filing a Reference List. A filing that contains redacted information may be filed together with a reference list that identifies each item of redacted information and specifies an appropriate identifier that uniquely corresponds to each item listed. The list must be filed under seal and may be amended as a right. Any reference in the case to a listed identifier will be construed to refer to the corresponding item of information.
g. Waiver of Protection of Identifiers. A person waives the protection of Rule 5.4a or corresponding Local Criminal Rule 49.2 as to the person’s own information by filing it without redaction and not under seal.
* Social Security Appeals and Immigration cases are subject to the limitations set forth in Rule 5.2(c), Fed.R.Civ.P., effective December 1, 2007.