Any document to be filed under seal shall be filed in compliance with procedures established by
the Clerk of Court and approved by the Executive Committee. All attorneys and unrepresented
parties with an electronic filing account, shall file sealed documents pursuant to LR 26.2 and
should do so electronically by way of the Court’s electronic case management system. Except
where pursuant to court order a restricted or sealed document as defined by LR26.2 is not filed
electronically
(A) by an attorney or by an unrepresented party with an e-filing account: the paper documents shall
be accepted by the Clerk of Court. The Clerk of Court shall file those paper documents in the
appropriate case, but those documents are to be filed as unsealed and publicly available.
(B) by an unrepresented party without an e-filing account: the paper documents shall be accepted
by the Clerk of Court. Where restricted or sealed documents are submitted under this provision,
they must be accompanied by a cover sheet which shall include the following:
(1) the caption of the case, including the case number;
(2) the title "Sealed Document Pursuant to LR26.2";
(3) a statement indicating that the document is filed under seal in accordance with an order of the
court and the date of that order; and
(4) the signature of the unrepresented party filing the document, the party's name and address, and
the title of the document.
Any document purporting to be a sealed document as defined in LR26.2 that is not filed in
compliance with such procedures shall be processed like any other document and filed as unsealed
and publicly available on the Court’s electronic case management system. In such instances, where
the document has been submitted in paper and does not show, on the coversheet, compliance with
all four of the requirements listed above, the Clerk of Court is authorized to open the sealed
envelope and remove the materials for processing as an unsealed document.
Committee Comment: Information about the procedures to file a document under seal
electronically can be found on the court’s website under the “E-filing” tab.
Committee Comment on January 2019 revision: The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that
the Clerk and the Clerk’s Office staff are not responsible for paper copies of under-seal materials.
Amended April 20, 2004; November 5, 2009; May 18, 2012; April 22, 2019
