Local Rule LR 10: FORM OF DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE COURT; CITATIONS TO STATUTES; PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS
N.D. Iowa — Civil rule
LR 10 FORM OF DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE COURT; CITATIONS TO STATUTES; PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS a. Size. All documents filed with the court in paper form must be on 8.5 inch x 11 inch size paper. All electronic filings must be similarly formatted.
b. Form. All documents filed with the court must be in the following form:
1. Double spaced;
2. Printed on only one side of the page; and 3. Have a top margin of at least 1 inch on each page.
4. A brief more than 10 pages in length must include, on the first page, a subject matter table of contents.
Documents more than 1 page in length must be numbered at the bottom of each page. Exhibits included in an appendix or attached to a pleading, motion, or brief must be imaged or reproduced in a clear, legible, and high-quality form.
c. Documents Filed in Paper Form. To facilitate electronic imaging, a document filed nonelectronically must be delivered to the Clerk of Court with no tabs, staples, or permanent clips, but may be organized with paperclips, clamps, or some other type of temporary fastener, or delivered to the Clerk of Court in an expandable file folder, except as follows:
1. Transcripts may be bound.
2. Copies of exhibits may be provided to the court in a notebook.
3. If a motion, resistance, or reply, together with any supporting filings, totals more than 100 pages in length and is filed electronically, within 7 days after the document is filed, the filer must deliver to the Clerk of Court, for use by the presiding judge, a paper copy of the motion, resistance, or reply, together with any supporting filings, reproduced on one side of the page, bound or fastened at the left margin, and tabbed to facilitate ready reference.
d. Captions. Captions of filings must include the district and division in which the case is filed, the case number, the names of the litigants in the manner prescribed in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a), and a designation of the content, and must specify clearly the party filing the document.
e. Consolidated Cases. If 2 or more cases have been consolidated, the caption on all filings in the cases must be in the name of the lead case, but also must include the case numbers of all other member cases. If 2 or more cases have been consolidated for pretrial purposes only, the caption on all filings in the cases must include the full captions of all member cases.
f. Return of Copies by Mail. If a party requests that a copy of a document filed in paper form be returned by mail, the party must deliver to the Clerk of Court a self-addressed, stamped envelope, with proper postage, and large enough to accommodate the requested copy.
g. Personal Data Identifiers. Unless otherwise permitted or required by law, a party filing a document containing personal data identifiers should, unless the document is filed under seal, modify or partially redact the document to prevent disclosure of the identifiers. (See Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a)). Personal data identifiers include the following:
1. Social Security numbers;
2. Dates of birth;
3. Names of minors (anyone under the age of 18);
4. Financial account numbers; and 5. Taxpayer identification numbers.
By way of example, and not limitation, if the Social Security number of an individual must be included in a document, only the last four digits of that number should be used. If an individual's date of birth is necessary, only the year should be used. If a minor must be mentioned, only that minor's initials should be used. If financial account numbers are relevant, only incomplete numbers should be recited in the document.
In addition, parties should exercise caution when filing unsealed documents that contain the following information:
6. Other personal identifying numbers, such as driver's license numbers;
7. Information concerning medical treatment or diagnosis (which includes mental health and substance abuse information);
8. Employment history;
9. Personal financial information;
10. Proprietary or trade secret information;
11. Information concerning a person's cooperation with the government;
12. Information concerning crime victims;
13. Sensitive security information;
14. Home addresses;
15. Telephone numbers;
16. Email addresses.
It is the responsibility of counsel and the parties to assure that appropriate redactions from documents have been made before they are filed; the Clerk of Court will not review filings to determine whether such redactions have been made.