Local Rule LRCiv 7.1: FORMS OF PAPERS

LRCiv 7.1 FORMS OF PAPERS

(a) Title Page. The following information must be stated upon the first page of every document and may be presented for filing single-spaced:

(1) The name, address, e-mail address, State Bar Attorney number, telephone number, and optionally the fax number, of the attorney appearing for the party in the action or proceeding and whether the attorney appears for the plaintiff, defendant, or other party - in propria persona - must be typewritten or printed in the space to the left of the center of the page and beginning at line one (1) on the first page. The space to the right of the center must be reserved for the filing marks of the Clerk.

(2) The title of the Court must begin on or below line six (6) of the first page.

(3) The title of the action or proceeding must be inserted below the title of the Court in the space to the left of the center of the paper. Party names must be capitalized using proper upper and lower case type. If the parties are too numerous for all to be named on the first page, the names of the parties only may be continued on the second or successive pages. All parties named in the case caption must be separated by semicolons on any initial or amended complaint, petition, crossclaim, counterclaim, or third-party complaint. If the initial or amended complaint, petition, crossclaim, counterclaim, or third-party complaint applies to a consolidated action, the affected case number(s) must appear below the number of the established "lead", or lowest-numbered case. For all other papers filed in civil or criminal cases, it is sufficient to state the name of the first party on each side with an appropriate indication of the other parties, as provided by Rule 10(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In the space to the right of the center there must be inserted (A) the number of the action or proceeding, including the defendant's number if the paper is filed on behalf of a single defendant in a multi-defendant criminal case; (B) a brief description of the nature of the document, including demand for trial by jury if made in the document; and (C) mention of any notice of motion or affidavits or memorandum in support.

(b) Pleadings and Other Papers.

(1) All pleadings and other papers shall be written in the English language, submitted in letter size (8 ½ inches by 11 inches) format and shall be signed as provided in Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The body of all documents shall be typed double-spaced and shall not exceed 28 lines per page; they shall not be single-spaced except for footnotes and indented quotations. All pleadings, motions and other original documents filed with the Clerk shall be in a fixed-pitch type size no smaller than ten (10) pitch (10 letters per inch) or in a proportional font size no smaller than 13 point, including any footnotes. Pages of the document must be numbered. The left margin shall not be less than 1 ½ inches and the right margin shall not be less than ½ inch. All paper documents presented for filing shall be on unglazed paper stapled in the upper left-hand corner. Paper documents intended for filing shall be presented to the Clerk's Office without being folded or rolled and shall be kept in flat files. Paper documents which are too large for stapling should be bound with a metal prong fastener at the top, center of the document. Documents filed by incarcerated persons are exempt from the stapling and fastening requirements.

(2) In civil cases when a party requests specific relief, except for dismissal or summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b) or 56, the party must submit a proposed order as an attachment to the motion or stipulation.

(3) Proposed orders prepared for the signature of a United States District Judge or a Magistrate Judge must be prepared on a separate document containing the heading data required by subparagraphs (a)(2) and (3) above as appropriate, and must not be included as an integral part of stipulations, motions, or other pleadings. The proposed order must not contain any information identifying the party submitting the order and must not incorporate by reference, but rather must set forth the relief requested or the terms of the parties' stipulation. Proposed orders submitted electronically must not contain a date or signature block. All other proposed orders must contain the following uniform signature block (Magistrate Judges should be adapted accordingly):

DATED this ______ day of _______________, 20_______.

______________________________ (Judge's Name) United States District Judge

(c) Electronic Documents. Documents submitted for filing in the ECF System shall be in a Portable Document Format (PDF). Documents which exist only in paper format shall be scanned into PDF for electronic filing. All other documents shall be converted to PDF directly from a word processing program (e.g., Microsoft Word® or Corel WordPerfect®), rather than created from the scanned image of a paper document.

(d) Attachments to Pleadings and Memoranda.

(1) Attachments. No copy of a pleading, exhibit or minute entry which has been filed in a case shall be attached to the original of a subsequent pleading, motion or memorandum of points and authorities.

(2) Incorporation by Reference. If a party desires to call the Court's attention to anything contained in a previous pleading, motion or minute entry, the party shall do so by incorporation by reference.

(3) Authorities Cited in Memoranda. Copies of authorities cited in memoranda shall not be attached to the original of any motion or memorandum of authorities.

(4) Attachments to Judge. Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting a party from attaching copies of pleadings, motions, exhibits, minute entries or texts of authorities to a copy of a motion or memorandum of points and authorities delivered to the District Judge or Magistrate Judge to whom the case has been assigned. Any such attachments or authorities provided to the District Judge or Magistrate Judge must also be provided to all other attorneys.

(5) Sanctions. In addition to any other sanctions, for violation of this Local Rule, the Court may order the removal of the offending document and charge the offending party or counsel such costs or fees as may be necessary to cover the Clerk's costs of filing, preservation, or storage.