Local Rule Rule 5: SERVING AND FILING PLEADINGS AND OTHER PAPERS

Rule 5 SERVING AND FILING PLEADINGS AND OTHER PAPERS (Amended January 18, 2017)

(a) E-Filing In accordance with the Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures incorporated in these Rules, filing in most cases in this District will be by electronic filing. By order of the Court, upon a showing of good cause, a party may be excused from electronic filing.

(b) Appearance Any counsel entering a case after the filing of the complaint, whether on behalf of a party or non-party, shall file with the Clerk and serve on all parties or their counsel a notice of appearance. The appearance shall include counsel's name, address, zip code, federal bar number, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address, if available. Any self-represented party other than the plaintiff shall also file an appearance. For purposes of this Rule, the representation of a non-party witness at deposition or trial does not ordinarily constitute "entering a case," but any counsel who wishes to address the court on behalf of any party or non-party shall file an appearance.

(c) Proof of Service Proof of service may be made by written acknowledgment of service by the party served, by a certificate of counsel for the party filing the pleading or papers, by a certificate of the self-represented party filing the pleading or papers, or by affidavit of the person making the service. Where proof of service is made by certificate or by affidavit, the certificate or affidavit shall list the name and address of each person served or otherwise comply with the Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures. Where service is made on all parties through the court's CM/ECF system, the transmission notice on the Notice of Electronic Filing shall be deemed a sufficient certificate of service.

(d) United States As A Party Except for cases subject to the Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures, in cases in which the United States is a party, three copies of each pleading or other paper initiating an action shall be served upon the United States Attorney or his or her designee in addition to the copies of the summons and complaint required by Rule 4(i), Fed.R.Civ.P.

(e) Sealed Proceedings and Documents 1.(a) The power to close a courtroom or to exclude the public from proceedings to which a First Amendment right to access attaches shall be used sparingly and only for clear and compelling reasons. Before excluding the public from such proceedings, the Court must make particularized findings on the record demonstrating the need for the exclusion, and any court closure order shall be narrowly tailored to serve the purpose of the closure. Those findings may be made in camera and under seal, provided that the requirements of paragraph 3, below, have been met with respect to the findings themselves.

(b) Except when justified by extraordinary circumstances, no order closing a courtroom or excluding the public from proceedings to which a First Amendment right to access attaches shall be entered except upon advance notice to the public. Any motion seeking such relief, whether made by a party or by the Court sua sponte, must be docketed immediately in the public docket files of the Court. When docketed under seal pursuant to an order of the Court, the docket entry for any motion seeking court closure shall reflect the fact that the motion was made, the fact that any supporting or opposing papers were filed under seal, the time and place of any hearing on the motion, the occurrence of such hearing, the disposition of the motion, and the fact and extent of courtroom closure. Any such motion shall be made as far in advance of the pertinent proceeding as possible in order to permit the public to intervene for the purpose of challenging the court closure.

2. Except as permitted or required by federal law, no civil case shall be sealed in its entirety. The existence of any case sealed in its entirety shall be reflected on public dockets by use of the notation: "Sealed Case."

3. Every document used by parties moving for or opposing an adjudication by the Court, other than trial or hearing exhibits, shall be filed with the Court. No judicial document shall be filed under seal, except upon entry of an order of the Court either acting sua sponte or specifically granting a request to seal that document. Any such order sealing a judicial document shall include particularized findings demonstrating that sealing is supported by clear and compelling reasons and is narrowly tailored to serve those reasons. A statute mandating or permitting the non-disclosure of a class of documents (e.g., personnel files, health care records, or records of administrative proceedings) provides sufficient authority to support an order sealing such documents. A judge may seal a Court order, including an order to seal documents and the related findings, when sealing a Court order meets the standard for sealing a judicial document. No document shall be sealed merely by stipulation of the parties. A confidentiality order or protective order entered by the Court to govern discovery shall not qualify as an order to seal documents for purposes of this rule. Any document filed under seal in the absence of a Court order to seal it is subject to unsealing without prior notice to the parties.

4. Counsel seeking an order to file a document under seal may choose among the following procedures:

(a) Counsel may e-file (1) a motion to seal, which may be e-filed as a public motion or a sealed motion, (2) a redacted version of each document sought to be sealed, which shall be e-filed as a public document, (3) unredacted copies of each document sought to be sealed, which shall be e-filed as sealed motions or sealed documents, and (4) any memorandum or other documents supporting the assertion that grounds exist for sealing the documents sought to be sealed, which may be e-filed as public or sealed documents. Upon submission by the party of a motion to seal, the contents of any sealed motion or sealed document shall be treated as sealed unless the motion to seal is denied or until otherwise directed by the Court.

(b) Counsel may e-file a motion to seal, which may be e-filed as a public motion or a sealed motion, along with a memorandum and supporting documents, without the documents sought to be sealed. If the Court grants the motion to seal in whole or in part, counsel shall e-file as public documents redacted copies of any documents required by the Court's sealing order, and shall e-file as sealed documents, unredacted copies of any motions or documents ordered sealed but not previously e-filed.

(c) Counsel may seek permission of the presiding Judge to submit the documents sought to be sealed for in camera consideration. If the Judge agrees to review documents in camera, counsel shall submit to Chambers and shall serve on all counsel of record copies of the documents sought to be sealed and shall e-file a motion to seal, a memorandum and supporting documents. If counsel want the motion to seal, memorandum or supporting documents to be considered as documents to be sealed, counsel shall e-file those submissions as sealed motions and/or sealed documents and their contents shall be treated as sealed unless the motion to seal is denied or until otherwise directed by the Court. If the Court grants the motion to seal in whole or in part, counsel shall e-file any redacted copies of the documents required by the Court's sealing order and shall e-file the unredacted documents as sealed documents.

5. A motion to seal shall be e-filed as either a "Motion to Seal" or a "Sealed Motion to Seal" along with a description of the items sought to be sealed (e.g., "Motion to Seal Defendant's Personnel File"). The documents sought to be sealed shall be entered on the docket using the same title of the pleading or description of the documents used in the motion to seal. Pursuant to a Court order supported by a particularized showing of good cause, a filing or document may be entered on the docket simply as "Sealed Document" or "Sealed Motion." Any documents ordered sealed by the Court shall be sealed by the Clerk on the docket, and the Clerk shall docket any sealing order issued by the Court. The Court may condition any sealing order on the filing of documents less fully redacted than those submitted by the party seeking sealing. If the Court denies the motion to seal in whole or in part, any unredacted document, motion, memorandum or supporting document not ordered sealed will be unsealed by the Clerk.

6. Any party may oppose a motion to seal or may move to unseal a case or document subject to a sealing order. Any non-party who either seeks to oppose a motion to seal or seeks to unseal a case or document subject to a sealing order, may move for leave to intervene in a civil action for the limited purpose of pursuing that relief. Motions for leave to intervene for purposes of opposing sealing, objections to motions to seal, and motions to unseal shall be decided expeditiously by the Court.

7. Any case or document ordered sealed by the Court shall remain sealed pending further order of this Court, or any Court sitting in review. After a sealed document has been uploaded to the electronic docket, the original and any copies in the possession of the Clerk's Office or a judicial officer may be returned to the filing party. Upon final determination of the action, as defined in Rule 83.6(c) of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure, counsel shall have ninety (90) days to file a motion pursuant to Rule 83.6(a) for the withdrawal and return of the sealed documents. Any sealed document thereafter remaining may be destroyed by the Clerk pursuant to Rule 83.6(e) or retired by the Clerk with other parts of the file to the Federal Records Center, where they may be unsealed without notice to counsel or the parties. The return, destruction or retirement of hard copies of sealed documents shall not serve to unseal electronic copies of documents sealed by Court order.

(f) Filing of Discovery Materials 1. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(d), expert witness reports, computations of damages, depositions, notices of deposition, interrogatories, requests for documents, requests for admissions, and answers and responses shall not be filed with the Clerk's Office except by order of the Court.

2. A party seeking relief under any of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure shall file only that portion of the deposition, interrogatory, request for documents or request for admissions that is the subject of the dispute.

3. When discovery material not on file is needed for consideration of a motion or for an appeal, upon application to or order of the Court or by stipulation of counsel, the necessary portion of discovery material shall be filed with the Clerk.

(g) Service in Manually Filed Cases In manually filed cases, the parties may reach an agreement, which shall be reduced to writing, concerning service of papers, which may permit service by facsimile or other electronic means, with or without simultaneous service of paper copies, provided that all pleadings and documents filed with the Clerk's office must be by paper copy. In the absence of such agreement, service must be by mail, by overnight mail, or by hand.