Local Rule 131: COUNSEL IDENTIFICATION AND SIGNATURES

RULE 131 (Fed. R. Civ. P. 7)

COUNSEL IDENTIFICATION AND SIGNATURES

(a) Counsel Identification. The name, address, telephone number, and the California State Bar membership number of all attorneys, or, if in propria persona, the name, address, and telephone number of the party, and the specific identification of each party represented by name and interest in the litigation (e.g., plaintiff Smith, defendant Jones) shall appear in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of each document presented for filing, except that in the instance of multi-party representation reference may be made to the signature page for the complete list of parties represented. Attorneys for service shall be designated in accordance with L.R. 180. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11; L.R. 180, 182; Cal. Rules of Court 2.111.

(b) Signatures Generally. All pleadings and non-evidentiary documents shall be signed by the individual attorney for the party presenting them, or by the party involved if that party is appearing in propria persona. Affidavits and certifications shall be signed by the person executing the document. The name of the person signing the document shall be typed or printed underneath the signature. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. If a document is submitted to the Clerk via portable electronic media, signatures shall appear either as a facsimile of the original (in a scanned document placed on portable electronic media), or on a separate, scanned signature page if the document was published to .pdf and then placed on portable electronic media. In the latter situation, the docket shall reflect the submission of the signature page.

(c) Attorney Signatures. Anything filed using an attorney's name, login, and password will be deemed to have been signed by that attorney for all purposes, including Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. For example, for the attorney whose login and password is being used, it is sufficient to indicate a signature as in the following example: "/s/ John M. Barrister, Esquire."

(d) Misuse of Attorney's Electronic Signature. Any person challenging the authenticity of an electronically-filed document or placement of the attorney's signature on that document must file an objection and request that the document be stricken within twenty-one (21) days of receiving the Notice of Electronic Filing, or at a later time for good cause shown by an attorney exercising due diligence. Attorneys are responsible for, and must take care to ensure, the validity of their signatures.

(e) Documents Requiring Signatures of Multiple Counsel. Documents that are normally signed by more than one counsel, whether the counsel represent the same party or different parties, may be prepared by obtaining approval from any other counsel to state that the other counsel has authorized submission of the document on that counsel's behalf. Submitting counsel shall place the other counsel's signature on the electronic filing by using "/s/ counsel's name (as authorized on __[date]__)." Alternatively, one counsel may obtain the original signatures from all counsel who are filing the document, scan the signature page(s) only and file the signature page(s) as an attachment to the document with an explanatory statement on the signature page of the filed document.

(f) Non-Attorney's Electronic Signature. Documents that are required to be signed by a person who is not the attorney of record in a particular action (verified pleadings, affidavits, papers authorized to be filed electronically by persons in pro per, etc.), may be submitted in electronic format bearing a "/s/" and the person's name on the signature line along with a statement that counsel has a signed original, e.g., "/s/ John Doe (original signature retained by attorney Mary Roe)." It is counsel's duty to maintain this original signature for one year after the exhaustion of all appeals. This procedure may also be followed when a hybrid electronic/paper document is filed, i.e., the conventionally served document may also contain an annotated signature in lieu of the original.

(g) Misuse of Non-Attorney's Electronic Signature. A non-filing signatory, party, or attorney who disputes the authenticity of an electronically-filed document with a non-attorney signature must file an objection and request that the document be stricken within twenty-one (21) days of receiving the Notice of Electronic Filing or a copy of the document, whichever first occurs, unless good cause exists for a later contest of the signature by a person exercising due diligence.

(h) Electronic Signatures on Certain Documents in Criminal Actions. Several documents in criminal actions require the signature of a non-attorney, such as a grand jury foreperson, a defendant, a third-party custodian, a United States Marshal, an officer from Pretrial Services or Probation, or some other federal officer or agent. Unless the procedure in L.R. 131(f) is followed, the Clerk will scan these documents, upload them to the CM/ECF system, and except as otherwise provided by administrative procedures, discard the paper documents. The electronically-filed document as it is maintained on the Court's servers shall constitute the official version of that record.