Local Rule LCivR 10: FORM OF PLEADINGS
E.D. Wash. — Civil rule
LCivR 10 FORM OF PLEADINGS
(a) Caption; Names of Parties.
(1) Format. Every pleading must have a caption formatted as follows:
(A) on the first page of each pleading—on the left side of the page, above line five—the name, mailing address, and telephone number of the attorney, firm, or pro se litigant submitting the paper shall appear;
(B) on the first page of each pleading—on the center of the page, on or below line five—the title of the Court shall appear;
(C) on the first page of each pleading—on the left side of the page, below the title of the Court—the caption of the case shall appear;
(D) on the first page of each pleading—on the right side of the page, opposite the caption—the case number and the title of the pleading shall appear;
(E) on every page of each pleading—in the footer—the title or an abbreviated title of the pleading followed by the page number shall appear.
(2) Pagination. All pleadings, including all attachments thereto, shall be sequentially paginated in their entirety, with the page numbers appearing in the footer of each page.
(3) Unnamed Defendants. The use of "John Doe" pleading is disfavored in federal court. See Gillespie v. Civiletti, 629 F.2d 637, 642 (9th Cir. 1980). Where the identity of an alleged defendant is not known prior to the filing of a complaint, a plaintiff will be given an opportunity through discovery to identify the unknown defendant, unless it is clear that discovery would not uncover the identity of the defendant or that the complaint would be dismissed on another ground. A plaintiff must sufficiently allege the actions of each unknown defendant for which the plaintiff complains.
(b) [Reserved]
(c) Adoption by Reference; Exhibits.
Previously filed pleadings, exhibits, or documents shall not be unnecessarily refiled but rather shall be incorporated by reference. Citations to any pleadings, exhibits, or documents previously filed shall be to the Electronic Case Filing record number and page number and shall be in the following format, "ECF No. ___ at ___." Example: ECF No. 24 at 2. Citations to the sequentially numbered pages of an administrative record may be in the following format, "AR __." or "Tr. __."
(d) Format.
All pleadings shall be in English and prepared in 8½" x 11" format with line numbers in the left vertical margin. Electronic filing requires conversion to the PDF format. Paper filing requires good quality paper printed on one side only. All pleadings shall be typed, printed, or prepared by a clearly legible printing process in serif or traditional Roman typefaces, not script or decorative typefaces. All pleadings must be prepared in the equivalent of either a proportionately spaced typeface of 14 points or more or a monospaced typeface of no more than 10.5 characters per inch (e.g., size 12 Courier New). Text and footnotes must be double spaced. Quoted material, headings, captions, signature blocks, and certifications may be single spaced.
[Note: The Court may request a courtesy paper copy of pleadings over 100 pages in length, including exhibits, administrative records, and other documents, according to LCivR 5(d)(3).]