US District Court News

THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT of New Hampshire is moving forward with implementation of the federal courts’ electronic filing system and case management software, with some civil cases to be filed online starting this June.

The Clerk’s office has already begun working with the case management system that forms the "back end" of the ECF-PACER system that is being implemented nationwide, and which is already in use in New Hampshire in the Bankruptcy Court. Eventually, it will become the expected means of filing for all cases.

The following are highlights from the "frequently asked questions" section of the court’s web site on the ECF project.

What are the benefits and features of using CM/ECF for courts, attorneys and the public?

• Full case information, including the docket and the filed documents, are readily available to judges, chambers staff, and clerk’s office personnel simultaneously without having to retrieve case records from the file room. These court users can also access this information at any time from locations other than the courthouse, via the Internet.
• At the court’s option, registered attorneys can file and retrieve court documents 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
• Attorneys filing over the Internet automatically create docket entries.
• Attorneys, parties and the general public are able to view case records using the Internet. This includes the ability to view the full text of all filed documents (subject to any limitations the court might impose).
• Attorneys can receive notices electronically in ECF cases; this eliminates the costs to both the court and attorneys of handling and mailing paper notices. It also greatly speeds delivery and allows easier tracking of case activity.
• Maintaining files in electronic form reduces physical storage space needs.

Since CM/ECF uses Internet standard software, the out of pocket cost of participation for attorneys is typically very low.

SYSTEM ACCESS

Each court determines to whom filing logins and passwords are issued. At the present time, we are contemplating allowing only attorneys to participate in electronic filing.

How will the identities of filers be authenticated?

Authentication is currently completed at login. Each user is required to identify himself or herself by presenting a valid combination of user name and password. Upon doing so, access to the site is granted.

Can the general public view ECF cases and the documents in those cases?

  Access to view cases and documents in CM/ECF is available to anyone with a PACER login and password.   PACER offers convenient electronic access to case file documents, listing of all case parties, reports of case related information, chronologies of events entered in the case record, listing of new cases, judgments or case status, and a calendar of events.  However, as a result of the policy recently adopted by the Judicial Conference, the public cannot view documents filed in Civil Social Security Appeal cases or Criminal cases.

To defray the costs of PACER and CM/ECF, the Judicial Conference has set a fee of $.07 per page for electronic court data via the internet, except for calendar information, for which there is no charge. The fee applies to all users, although courts may exempt certain persons, such as indigents. Parties entitled to documents as part of the legal process receive a free electronic copy, although they will be charged for replacement copies, whether in paper or electronic form.

SYSTEM CAPABILITIES - FILING

The types of motions that an attorney or court personnel can file are displayed in a drop-down window. The user can select one or a list of motions, using the control key and the mouse. The filer should select as many different motions from the list as required to accurately reflect the reliefs sought. CM/ECF then processes each of the motion parts, one at a time, leading the filer through the steps necessary to complete each part. Orders ruling on multi-part pleadings can dispose of each relief separately.

The system is set up so that when a court user or attorney files a document with the court, a notice of electronic filing is generated that includes information about what was filed, the text of the docket entry, the unique document stamp, and a list of case participants that receive email notification of the filing and a list of those that do not. The notice of electronic filing sent to those listed as receiving email notification contains a hyperlink to the document.

For users participating in ECF, receipt of this notice through the court’s transmission facilities constitutes "service" by parties as required Fed.R.Civ.P.5(b) and Fed.R.Crim.P.49(b). Other parties who are not registered CM/ECF filers must be served in the traditional manner, with paper documents.

Will the system support scanned documents in color?

Yes, the system does support scanned and all other documents in color, however, the size of the color document may be an issue. This will be addressed in a procedural order issued prior to our ECF go-live date.

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

• Personal computer (P-3 or higher/equivalent) running a standard platform (e.g., Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, MacIntosh).
• Portable Document Format (PDF) compatible word processing software for creating pleadings (e.g., Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Word).
• Adobe Acrobat 4.0 or higher, which includes both the Acrobat Reader for reading documents in PDF and Acrobat Writer for converting documents into PDF.
• An Internet Service Provider using point-to-point protocol (PPP) for accessing the Internet and for sending and receiving e-mails. Some type of Broadband, DSL or T-1 service is highly recommended as the use of a 56K modem will not allow you to use the full capabilities of the system. Netscape Navigator Versions 4.6 or 4.7 and Internet Explorer Version 5.5 are recommended.
• PACER account with PACER login and password.
• Document scanner.

How will signature of documents be handled for documents filed electronically?

At present, we are planning on treating use of an attorney’s unique system login and password as a signature. We may also require that attorneys retain copies of critical paper documents, such as affidavits or bankruptcy petitions, containing original signatures of parties for a set period of time.

This material is adapted from the US District Court’s web site at www.nhd.uscourts.gov.

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