Note from the Clerk's Office
Welcome to this edition of our newsletter. This newsletter serves to update all our e-filers on CM/ECF. It also provides tips and reminders to make your electronic filing experience a more pleasant one. Please share this with your support staff who assist you with filing in CM/ECF.
MANDATORY electronic filing in all cases is coming soon! E-filing is now MANDATORY in all criminal cases and in civil cases for firms with 20 or more attorneys! If you are not yet a registered e-filer and have not yet signed up for a training session, please do so today! You can register for training on-line at http://ors.utd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/class.pl
Responses, Replies and Other Motion Related Documents - What Does it all Mean?
The Court is seeing many responses called reply and replies called response. Here are the definitions of the documents and their uses from the Court's viewpoint.
Memorandum in Opposition to Motion - This document opposes another party's motion.
Memorandum in Support of Motion - This document supports a motion.
Reply Memorandum/Reply to Response to Motion - This document is a reply to a Memorandum in Opposition to your motion.
Response to Motion - This document is a generic response to a motion that may or may not oppose a motion, but is not the equivalent of a memorandum.
BEST PRACTICE - You should prepare and file your Memorandum in Opposition of one motion and in Support of a different motion as 2 separate documents. It can be confusing when the documents are combined as they must be docketed twice, once in opposition and once in support because each must relate to its own motion.
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| Documents relating to a motion must link to that motion. This includes any supporting or opposing Memoranda, Affidavits, Declarations, etc... If your document is not linked to the motion to which it relates it WILL NOT appear on the Judge's Pending Motion Report. |
How do I File an Objection to a Pleading on the Docket?
There is a civil and criminal Objection to the Report and Recommendation, Criminal Objection to the Presentence Report and a civil Objection to Magistrate Judge Decision to District Court.
To link to any other document there is an Objection event which is found under "Other Answers and Responses".
This will allow you to link to any document on the docket.
The Court Says Thank You
The Court wishes to thank the members of our bar who are making the transition to e-filing. We especially want to mention the great participation of the bar members in criminal cases. Approximately 20 - 25% of the criminal filings are being e-filed by attorneys, and in criminal cases this represents almost full compliance with the mandatory e-filing requirement in criminal cases.
Don't Forget Your Courtesy Copies
Section F of the Administrative Procedures outlines when attorneys are required to provide courtesy copies on paper to the judge. This includes:
a. all dispositive motions and memoranda with exhibits exceeding 10 pages, and
b. any other documents for which a judge specifically requests courtesy copies.
c. Senior Judges Jenkins, Winder, Greene and Sam require courtesy copies of all documents filed electronically. These courtesy copies may be mailed directly to chambers or dropped off at the Office of the Clerk. Counsel may deliver paper courtesy copies of other materials.
 Remember: If you file on paper you must serve on paper!
The Events Lists are now Available in CM/ECF
When you are searching for the right event to use it can be difficult to locate your paper copy of the events list. These lists are now available by going to Reports on the blue bar. Under Local Reports you will find a listing for Attorney Menu Items. By clicking in the radio button in front of the lists you can choose civil or criminal. Tip - You may search within the list by holding down the Control key and F (Control-F). This will bring up a text box for you to enter what you are looking for.
The events lists are also in a "searchable" PDF format on our web site under the Manuals and Reference section. These lists are alphabetical or categorical.
Electronic Documents Filed |
November.....1,209
December......1,345
January..........1,650
We now have 1,207 registered e-filers! |
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How Do I File ____?
A Notice of Appeal in a Criminal Case?
Answer: Under Appeal Documents, choose "Notice of Appeal - Final Judgment"
Check the box "Should the document you are filing be linked to another document"
You will also be asked to "Move the appealed counts to P7" (This is for Speedy Trial tracking)
Only move the counts the defendant was sentenced to. If there were superceding counts, those are designated with an "s" following the count number. (1s, 2s, etc) Be sure to move ALL the counts being appealed. Then click next.
You should get a list of the orders in the case - choose the judgment. If there is only one - it may skip this screen and go directly to the final text box.
A Motion to Appeal In Forma Pauperis?
Answer: This is now a sealed document due to the privacy act. File this document in paper. If you are the appointed CJA attorney in the case there is no need to file a motion as your CJA status remains the same through the appeal process.
| If you are unsure what event to use to file a document, CALL the Help Desk at (801)524-3248 |
Helpful Hints from the Help Desk
When filing your document, be sure to link ALL the parties you represent to the document. To choose more than one party, hold the control key down and click on each party, make sure all your clients are highlighted before clicking on the next button.
The Witness List event is no longer a sealed document. Attorneys may now e-file these documents. The witness list can be found under the category "Trial Documents" for both Civil and Criminal.
As the Wave Turns
- (Talented Advice Columnist E(lle) Filer responds to questions submitted by perplexed users of the CM/ECF system. You can ask for advice about the joys and sorrows of electronic filing by sending an e-mail to louise_york@utd.uscourts.gov.)
Dear Elle;
Okay, what is the deal about getting proposed orders to the right judge? Do I attach a pdf to the motion? Or do I send one by e-mail? If I send it by e-mail, do I send a pdf? What about an order for the clerk to sign - where do I send that? Anything different about scheduling orders?
Yours in confusion,
Disordered order sender
Dear Disordered :
The CM/ECF world of proposed orders in the district court can be a tangled web. Let me untangle it a bit. Remember when you would send a proposed order to the court with a motion? You didn’t do it for motions for summary judgment but you did for motions to extend time, motions to file over length memoranda or orders submitted as follow-up to a hearing or ruling by the court.
If your motion is one for which you would submit a proposed order, you should attach the proposed order in pdf format as an exhibit to the motion to which the order relates. But that is not your only obligation in transmitting orders to the court. After you have electronically filed your motion with the pdf exhibit order, you also need to send a proposed order in WordPerfect format as an attachment to an e-mail to the judge. The Administrative Procedures (See Section G ) tell you what information to put in the subject line of the e-mail and the proper e-mail address for each chambers. There is an address for the clerk’s general e-mail box and this is where you send unexecuted default certificates and orders for extension of time which can be granted by the clerk under DUCivR 77-2.
If you are sending a proposed order per request of the judge after a hearing or for some other reason, do not e-file the proposed order, but send it instead to the judge by e-mail in WordPerfect format.
There is something different about scheduling orders in civil cases. If the magistrate judge is going to enter the initial scheduling order, you will receive an e-mail notice of the IPT ( Initial Pretrial). That notice should be read carefully because it contains information about submitting the attorney planning meeting report and a proposed initial scheduling order to the special ipt mailbox (ipt@utd.uscourts.gov). Upon receipt of the proposed order, the magistrate judge can execute it and the initial pretrial conference hearing will be vacated and the case will proceed to discovery. (There is also some detailed information on the court’s web site under Judge Nuffer’s section about the Initial Scheduling Order process.
The best thing that you can do that will facilitate getting these orders entered is to submit them in the proper format to the correct e-mail address. If this answer has still left you confused, call the clerk’s office or help desk.
Happy Filing,
E(lle) Filer
 Start filing early. Don't wait until the last minute to file when the help desk is not available.
It's ok to file in the morning. No need to burn the midnight oil!
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