Local Rule Civil Rule 5.4: Electronic Case Filing

Civil Rule 5.4 Electronic Case Filing a. Scope of Electronic Case Filing. Except as prescribed by local rule, order, or other procedure, the Court has designated all cases to be assigned to the Electronic Filing System. Unless otherwise expressly provided in the Court's Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, the Court's Local Rules, or in exceptional circumstances preventing a registered user from filing electronically, as of November 1, 2006, all petitions, motions, memoranda of law, or other pleadings and documents to be filed with the Court by a registered user in connection with a case assigned to the Electronic Filing System must be electronically filed. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, all attorneys admitted to practice before the Southern District of California must register for Electronic Case Filing. b. Consequences of Electronic Filing. Electronic transmission of a document to the Electronic Filing System in the manner prescribed by the Court's Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, together with the transmission of an NEF from the Court, constitutes filing of the document for all purposes of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of this court, and constitutes entry of the document on the docket kept by the Clerk in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 58 and 79. c. Service of Pleadings and Documents Filed Electronically. The NEF that is automatically generated by the Court's Electronic Filing System 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 in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and these Local Rules. A certificate of service is not required when a party electronically files a document on other Filing Users with the Court's Electronic Filing System, but, as set forth in Civ. L.R. 5.2, a certificate of service is required for service on any parties who are not Filing Users. d. Consent to Electronic Service. Registration as a Filing User constitutes consent to Electronic Service of all documents as provided in this General Order and in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. e. Official Court Record. The official court record will be the electronic file maintained on the Court's servers. This includes information transmitted to the Court in electronic format, as well as documents filed in paper form, scanned, and made a part of the electronic record to the extent permitted by the Court's policies. The official record will also include any documents or exhibits that may be impractical to scan. The electronic file maintained on the Court's servers must contain a reference to any such documents filed with the Court. For cases initiated prior to the implementation of the Electronic Filing System, the official court record will include both the pre-implementation paper file maintained by the Clerk, as well as the post-implementation electronic files maintained on the Court's servers. The Clerk's Office must not maintain a paper court file in any case initiated on or after the effective date of these procedures except as otherwise provided in these procedures. f. Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures. The Court's CM/ECF Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, which may be obtained on the Court's website or upon request from the Clerk, sets forth the guidelines parties must follow to file documents electronically. The Court may direct the Clerk to strike from the record any document which fails to comply with the requirements for electronic filing set forth in the Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual.