Local Rule LR 5: SERVICE; ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF DOCUMENTS; SEALED DOCUMENTS; IN CAMERA DOCUMENTS

LR 5 SERVICE; ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF DOCUMENTS; SEALED DOCUMENTS; IN CAMERA DOCUMENTS a. Certificate of Service. Where a certificate of service is required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5(d)(1) or Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49(b)(1), the certificate must be filed promptly, and in any event, before any action is to be taken by the court or a party on any request made in the document being served. The certificate of service must show the time and manner of service and also must include one of the following:

1. A written acknowledgment of service by the party served;

2. A certification of service by a pro se party, or by a member of the bar of the court or his or her employee; or 3. A written declaration, subscribed under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, attesting to service by the person who served the documents.

The certificate of service may be included on the last page of the document being served.

b. Facsimile Delivery of Documents to the Clerk of Court. No document may be sent to the Clerk of Court for filing via facsimile transmission unless express prior authorization to do so has been obtained from a representative of the Clerk of Court or from the court. A request for such authorization should be made only in an emergency situation.

Any document sent to the Clerk of Court for filing via facsimile transmission must be accompanied by a facsimile cover page which includes the following:

1. The date of the transmission;

2. The name, facsimile number, and telephone number of the person to whom the document is being transmitted;

3. The name, facsimile number, and telephone number of the person transmitting the document;

4. The case number and title of the case in which the document is to be filed;

5. The name of the document;

6. The number of pages being transmitted, including the cover page; and 7. The name of the representative of the Clerk of Court or the federal judge who authorized the sending of the document via facsimile trans- mission.

After a party has sent a document to the Clerk of Court for filing via facsimile transmission, the Clerk of Court will electronically file the document. The filing party must serve a copy of the document on all parties who are not participants in the ECF system. (See LR 5A(k)(2)).

c. Filing Sealed Documents. Unless otherwise authorized by these rules, the ECF Procedures Manual, or a statute of the United States, a party seeking to file documents under seal first must file a motion requesting leave to do so. The documents sought to be filed under seal must not be attached to the motion or they will become part of the public case file. Instead, the documents must be described in the motion with sufficient particularity to enable the court to rule on the motion without reviewing the documents.

1. If an order is entered granting a motion to file documents under seal or directing a party to file documents under seal, then the parties thereafter must, without obtaining a further order from the court, docket and electronically file under seal all documents covered by the order. The parties also must file under seal all documents referring to or disclosing confidential information in the sealed documents.

2. Certain categories of documents, because of their nature, are sealed by the ECF system without a motion by a party or an order of the court. Most of these "system-sealed" filings are in criminal cases. (A current list of system-sealed filings is available on the courts' websites). A party filing such a document must not file a motion for leave to file the document under seal, but must file the document under seal directly through the ECF system.

3. Generally, a document filed under seal is electronically accessible only to the court and counsel of record. Some documents filed under seal in criminal cases are electronically accessible only to the court.

4. A document filed electronically under seal must include at the beginning of the document the caption of the case and the notation "FILED UNDER SEAL." A paper document submitted to the court for filing under seal must be delivered to the Clerk of Court in a sealed envelope marked with the caption of the case and the notation "FILED UNDER SEAL." If these requirements are not met, documents intended to be filed under seal could be filed in the public case file inadvertently.

d. In Camera Documents. Documents submitted to a judge for an in camera inspection must not be filed electronically, but must be delivered in paper form to the judge's chambers in a sealed envelope bearing the caption of the case, the name of the party presenting the documents, and a statement that the documents are being submitted for an in camera review.