(a) When Completed. A document or other item that is not required to be filed
electronically is deemed filed:
(1) upon delivery in person, by courier, or via U.S. Mail or other mail delivery
service to the clerk’s office during business hours;
(2) when the courtroom deputy clerk accepts it, if the document or item is
filed in open court; or
(3) upon completion of any other manner of filing that the court authorizes.
(b) Return of File-Stamped Copies. To receive a file-stamped copy of a
document filed directly with the clerk, a party must include with the original
document an additional copy and a self-addressed envelope. The envelope must be
big enough to hold the copy and have enough postage on it to send the copy via
regular first-class mail.
(c) Form of Orders. A party must include a suitable form of order with any
document that requires the judge or the clerk to enter a routine or uncontested
order.
(d) Form of Notices. If a party files a document directly with the clerk that
requires the clerk to give others notice, the party must provide the clerk with
sufficient copies of the notice and the names and addresses of each person who is to
receive the notice.
(e) Faxed Document. The clerk may not file a faxed document without court
authorization. The court may not authorize the clerk to file faxed documents
without finding that compelling circumstances justify it. A party must submit a copy
of the document that otherwise complies with this rule to replace the faxed copy
within seven days after faxing the document.
(f) Notice by Publication. The clerk must send notices required to be published
to the party originating the notice. The party must deliver the notice to the
appropriate newspapers for publication.
(g) Signature. The court will strike any document filed directly with the clerk
that is not signed by an attorney of record or the pro se litigant filing it, but the court
may do so only after giving the attorney or pro se litigant notice of the omission and
reasonable time to correct it. Rubber-stamp or facsimile signatures are not original
signatures and the court will deem documents containing them to be unsigned for
purposes of Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 and 26(g) and this rule.
Note: Effective January 1, 2012, provisions formerly contained in Local Rule 5.1(b) become Local
Rule 5-10.
