Local Rule Rule 5.4: Electronic Filing

Rule 5.4. Electronic Filing

(a) Scope of Electronic Filing.

(1) Except as provided by these Rules or by order of the Court, all cases are assigned to the Electronic Filing System. Unless otherwise provided by these Rules or by order of the Court, all pleadings and other documents required to be filed with the Court by a Filing User in connection with a case assigned to the Electronic Filing System must be electronically filed. All such materials shall be filed in accordance with these Rules and the District Court of the Virgin Islands Electronic Case Files User Manual located on the Court's website: http://vid.uscourts.gov.

(2) Payment must be made when documents that require payment are filed electronically. Payment can be made by check, credit card, debit card, money order or by other methods of payment authorized by the Clerk. If payment is not received by the close of business on the next working day after filing, the Court shall take necessary action which may include striking the document or dismissal of the matter.

(3) In cases removed from the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, the removing party must electronically file all removal documents required by 28 U.S.C. 1446. Prior to the initial conference required under Fed. R. Civ. P. Rule 16, the plaintiff in the removed case shall electronically file all documents that were filed in the Superior Court that were not filed by the removing party.

(b) Eligibility, Registration, Passwords.

(1) Anyone registering to use the Court's Electronic Filing System shall register to do so using the form prescribed by the Clerk of Court. Once the registration form is completed and verified by the Clerk's Office, the Filing User must obtain a PACER account. Once the PACER account has been established, the Filing User must request permission to electronically file at the District Court of the Virgin Islands via their respective PACER account. The Clerk's Office will then approve the Filing User to file with the Court using the filer's Central Sign-on account.

(2) If the Court permits, a party to a pending civil action who is eligible to proceed pro se may register as a Filing User in the Electronic Filing System solely for purposes of the action on a form prescribed by the Clerk and pursuant to the procedure outlined in LRCi 5.4(b)(1). If the party retains an attorney who appears on the party's behalf during the action, the attorney must advise the Clerk to terminate the party's registration as a Filing User upon the attorney's appearance.

(3) A pro se Filing User may withdraw from participation in the Electronic Filing System by providing the Clerk's Office with written notice of the withdrawal.

(4) The Court may terminate a pro se Filing User's electronic filing privileges under appropriate circumstances.

(5) Registration as a Filing User constitutes consent to electronic service of all documents as provided in these Rules and in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

(c) Consequences of Electronic Filing.

(1) Electronic transmission of a document to the Electronic Filing System consistent with these Rules, together with the transmission of a Notice of Electronic Filing from the Court, constitutes filing of the document for all purposes of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and these Rules, and constitutes entry of the document on the docket maintained by the Clerk under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 79.

(2) Before filing a scanned document with the Court, a Filing User must verify its legibility.

(3) When a document has been filed electronically, the official record is the electronic document as stored by the Court, and the filing party is bound by that document. Except in the case of documents first filed in paper form and subsequently submitted electronically, a document filed electronically is deemed filed on the date and at the time stated on the Notice of Electronic Filing from the Court.

(4) Filing a document electronically does not alter the filing deadline for that document. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, a filing must be completed before 11:59 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time in order to be considered timely filed that day.

(d) Entry of Court-Issued Documents. All orders, decrees, judgments, and proceedings of the Court shall be filed in accordance with these Rules. Such filing shall constitute entry on the docket maintained by the Clerk under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 58 and 79. All signed orders shall be filed electronically by the Court or Court personnel. Any order or other Court-issued document filed electronically without the original signature of a Judge or Clerk has the same force and effect as if the Judge or Clerk had signed a paper copy of the order.

(1) Orders may also be issued as "text-only" entries on the docket, without an attached document. Such orders are official and binding.

(2) The Court may sign, seal, and issue a summons electronically, but a summons may not be served electronically unless the recipient of the summons has agreed to accept electronic service.

(3) A Filing User submitting a document electronically that requires a Judge's or Clerk's signature must promptly email the document in Word or RTF format to the Chambers email address for the Judge, or the general email address for the Clerk's Office, respectively.

(e) Attachments and Exhibits.

(1) Filing Users must submit in electronic form all documents referenced as exhibits or attachments for which a hyperlink is not available, unless the Court permits conventional filing.

(2) Each attachment or exhibit to a motion or response shall be filed as a separate subdocument to the main document that references the attachment or exhibit.

(3) A Filing User must submit as exhibits or attachments only those excerpts of the referenced documents that are directly germane to the matter under consideration by the Court. Excerpted material must be clearly and prominently identified as such. Filing Users who file excerpts of documents as exhibits or attachments under this Rule do so without prejudice to their right to timely file additional excerpts or the complete document.

(4) Responding parties may timely file additional excerpts or the complete document if they believe they are directly germane.

(5) A Filing User must provide the complete document from which excerpts are made to parties known not to have a copy or upon request.

(6) The Court may authorize or require parties to file additional excerpts or the complete document.

(f) Sealed Documents. Documents ordered to be placed under seal must be filed electronically, unless prohibited by law, as authorized by the Court. A motion to file documents under seal must be filed electronically unless prohibited by law. The order of the Court authorizing the filing of documents under seal must be filed electronically unless prohibited by law. If the sealed documents are filed conventionally, a paper copy of the order must be attached to the documents under seal and delivered to the Clerk. The following procedure for filing documents under seal must be followed:

(1) File a motion for leave to file a document under seal that sets forth the legal basis for sealing and that generally describes the document(s) to be sealed. Do not include the proposed sealed documents as an attachment or exhibit to the motion.

(2) In a separate filing, use the "Sealed Document—Proposed" CM/ECF event to file the proposed sealed documents.

(3) Await the Court's Order on the motion for leave.

(4) If the motion is granted, file the documents or motion under seal using the respective docket event (Sealed Document or Sealed Motion).

(g) Retention Requirements. Documents (excluding depositions) that are electronically filed and require original signatures other than that of the Filing User must be maintained in paper form by the Filing User until five years after all time periods for appeals expire. Upon request of the Court, the Filing User must provide original documents for review.

(h) Signatures.

(1) Electronically filed documents must include the Filing User's name, address (including email address), telephone number, and the attorney's U.S. Virgin Islands bar registration number, if applicable. If an attorney is admitted pro hac vice, the electronically filed document must include this information for both local and pro hac vice counsel.

(2) Documents of non-Filing Users must be signed.

(3) Documents requiring signatures of more than one party must be electronically filed either by:

(i) submitting a scanned document containing all necessary signatures;

(ii) representing the consent of the other parties to affixing their signatures on the document; or

(iii) in any other manner approved by the Court.

(i) Service of Documents by Electronic Means.

(1) The "Notice of Electronic Filing" that is automatically generated by the Court's Electronic Filing System, except as provided below, constitutes service of the filed document on Filing Users. Parties who are not Filing Users must be served with a copy of any pleading or other document filed electronically, together with the Notice of Electronic Filing, by an alternate method in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and these Rules.

(2) In the absence of electronic filing, service of any sealed document by an alternate method, in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and these Rules, is required.

(3) A non-Filing User must include a certificate of service with all documents that are served that identifies the date and manner of service upon each party.

(4) In civil actions that include a non-Filing User, all Filing Users must include a certificate of service with all documents that are served that identifies the date and manner of service upon the non-Filing User. The certificate of service need not include parties served through the Court's electronic-filing system.

(j) Notice of Court Orders and Judgments. Immediately upon the entry of an order or judgment in an action assigned to the Electronic Filing System, the Clerk shall transmit to Filing Users in the case, in electronic form, a Notice of Electronic Filing. Electronic transmission of the Notice of Electronic Filing constitutes the notice required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 77(d). The Clerk must give notice in paper form to a person who has not consented to electronic service in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

(k) Technical Failures. A Filing User whose filing is made untimely as the result of a technical failure and who is unable to make a timely filing by traditional means must seek appropriate relief from the Court.

(l) Public Access. Responsibility for redacting the personal identifiers set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(a) rests solely with counsel and the parties. The Clerk will not review documents for compliance with this Rule.

(m) Hyperlinks.

(1) Electronically filed documents may contain the following types of hyperlinks:

(i) Hyperlinks to other portions of the same document and/or, where possible, other documents within the CM/ECF system; and

(ii) Hyperlinks to a location on the Internet that contains a source document for a citation.

(2) Hyperlinks to cited authority do not replace standard citation format. Complete citations must be included in the text of the filed document.

(3) Neither a hyperlink to a location on the Internet (other than documents within the CM/ECF system), nor any site to which it refers, is part of the record. Hyperlinks are simply convenient mechanisms for accessing material cited in a filed document. The citation to such hyperlinks shall be followed by the date the hyperlink was last accessed. If a party wishes to make the content of an Internet site a part of the record, it should use an appropriate method to capture the content and attach the content as an exhibit or attachment to the document being filed. Admissibility of such content is governed by the Federal Rules of Evidence.