(a) Scope of Electronic Filing.
(1) Except as provided by these Rules or by order of the Court, all cases are assigned to
the Electronic Filing System. Unless otherwise provided by these Rules or by order
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of the Court, all pleadings and other documents required to be filed with the Court
by a Filing User in connection with a case assigned to the Electronic Filing System
must be electronically filed. All such materials shall be filed in accordance with these
Rules and the District Court of the Virgin Islands Electronic Case Files User Manual
located on the Court’s website: http://vid.uscourts.gov.
(2) Payment must be made when documents that require payment are filed
electronically. Payment can be made by check, credit card, debit card, money order
or by other methods of payment authorized by the Clerk. If payment is not received
by the close of business on the next working day after filing, the Court shall take
necessary action which may include striking the document or dismissal of the matter.
(3) In cases removed from the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, the removing party
must electronically file all removal documents required by 28 U.S.C. 1446. Prior to
the initial conference required under Fed. R. Civ. P. Rule 16, the plaintiff in the
removed case shall electronically file all documents that were filed in the Superior
Court that were not filed by the removing party.
(b) Eligibility, Registration, Passwords.
(1) Anyone registering to use the Court’s Electronic Filing System shall register to do so
using the form prescribed by the Clerk of Court. Once the registration form is
completed and verified by the Clerk’s Office, the Filing User must obtain a PACER
account. Once the PACER account has been established, the Filing User must request
permission to electronically file at the District Court of the Virgin Islands via their
respective PACER account. The Clerk’s Office will then approve the Filing User to
file with the Court using the filer’s Central Sign-on account.
(2) If the Court permits, a party to a pending civil action who is eligible to proceed pro
se may register as a Filing User in the Electronic Filing System solely for purposes
of the action on a form prescribed by the Clerk and pursuant to the procedure outlined
in LRCi 5.4(b)(1). If the party retains an attorney who appears on the party's behalf
during the action, the attorney must advise the Clerk to terminate the party's
registration as a Filing User upon the attorney's appearance.
(3) A pro se Filing User may withdraw from participation in the Electronic Filing System
by providing the Clerk’s Office with written notice of the withdrawal.
(4) The Court may terminate a pro se Filing User’s electronic filing privileges under
appropriate circumstances.
(5) Registration as a Filing User constitutes consent to electronic service of all
documents as provided in these Rules and in accordance with the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure.
(c) Consequences of Electronic Filing.
(1) Electronic transmission of a document to the Electronic Filing System consistent
with these Rules, together with the transmission of a Notice of Electronic Filing from
the Court, constitutes filing of the document for all purposes of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure and these Rules, and constitutes entry of the document on the docket
maintained by the Clerk under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 79.
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(2) Before filing a scanned document with the Court, a Filing User must verify its
legibility.
(3) When a document has been filed electronically, the official record is the electronic
document as stored by the Court, and the filing party is bound by that document.
Except in the case of documents first filed in paper form and subsequently submitted
electronically, a document filed electronically is deemed filed on the date and at the
time stated on the Notice of Electronic Filing from the Court.
(4) Filing a document electronically does not alter the filing deadline for that document.
Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, a filing must be completed before 11:59 p.m.
Atlantic Standard Time in order to be considered timely filed that day.
(d) Entry of Court-Issued Documents. All orders, decrees, judgments, and proceedings
of the Court shall be filed in accordance with these Rules. Such filing shall constitute entry on
the docket maintained by the Clerk under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 58 and 79. All signed
orders shall be filed electronically by the Court or Court personnel. Any order or other Court-
issued document filed electronically without the original signature of a Judge or Clerk has the
same force and effect as if the Judge or Clerk had signed a paper copy of the order.
(1) Orders may also be issued as “text-only” entries on the docket, without an attached
document. Such orders are official and binding.
(2) The Court may sign, seal, and issue a summons electronically, but a summons may
not be served electronically unless the recipient of the summons has agreed to accept
electronic service.
(3) A Filing User submitting a document electronically that requires a Judge’s or Clerk’s
signature must promptly email the document in Word or RTF format to the Chambers
email address for the Judge, or the general email address for the Clerk’s Office,
respectively.
(e) Attachments and Exhibits.
(1) Filing Users must submit in electronic form all documents referenced as exhibits or
attachments for which a hyperlink is not available, unless the Court permits
conventional filing.
(2) Each attachment or exhibit to a motion or response shall be filed as a separate
subdocument to the main document that references the attachment or exhibit.
(3) A Filing User must submit as exhibits or attachments only those excerpts of the
referenced documents that are directly germane to the matter under consideration by
the Court. Excerpted material must be clearly and prominently identified as such.
Filing Users who file excerpts of documents as exhibits or attachments under this
Rule do so without prejudice to their right to timely file additional excerpts or the
complete document.
(4) Responding parties may timely file additional excerpts or the complete document if
they believe they are directly germane.
(5) A Filing User must provide the complete document from which excerpts are made to
parties known not to have a copy or upon request.
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(6) The Court may authorize or require parties to file additional excerpts or the complete
document.
(f) Sealed Documents. Documents ordered to be placed under seal must be filed
electronically, unless prohibited by law, as authorized by the Court. A motion to file documents
under seal must be filed electronically unless prohibited by law. The order of the Court
authorizing the filing of documents under seal must be filed electronically unless prohibited by
law. If the sealed documents are filed conventionally, a paper copy of the order must be attached
to the documents under seal and delivered to the Clerk. The following procedure for filing
documents under seal must be followed:
(1) File a motion for leave to file a document under seal that sets forth the legal basis for
sealing and that generally describes the document(s) to be sealed. Do not include the
proposed sealed documents as an attachment or exhibit to the motion.
(2) In a separate filing, use the “Sealed Document—Proposed” CM/ECF event to file the
proposed sealed documents.
(3) Await the Court’s Order on the motion for leave.
(4) If the motion is granted, file the documents or motion under seal using the respective
docket event (Sealed Document or Sealed Motion).
(g) Retention Requirements. Documents (excluding depositions) that are electronically
filed and require original signatures other than that of the Filing User must be maintained in
paper form by the Filing User until five years after all time periods for appeals expire. Upon
request of the Court, the Filing User must provide original documents for review.
(h) Signatures.
(1) Electronically filed documents must include the Filing User’s name, address
(including email address), telephone number, and the attorney’s U.S. Virgin Islands
bar registration number, if applicable. If an attorney is admitted pro hac vice, the
electronically filed document must include this information for both local and pro hac
vice counsel.
(2) Documents of non-Filing Users must be signed.
(3) Documents requiring signatures of more than one party must be electronically filed
either by:
(i) submitting a scanned document containing all necessary signatures;
(ii) representing the consent of the other parties to affixing their signatures on the
document; or
(iii) in any other manner approved by the Court.
(i) Service of Documents by Electronic Means.
(1) The “Notice of Electronic Filing” that is automatically generated by the Court’s
Electronic Filing System, except as provided below, constitutes service of the filed
document on Filing Users. Parties who are not Filing Users must be served with a
copy of any pleading or other document filed electronically, together with the Notice
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of Electronic Filing, by an alternate method in accordance with the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure and these Rules.
(2) In the absence of electronic filing, service of any sealed document by an alternate
method, in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and these Rules, is
required.
(3) A non-Filing User must include a certificate of service with all documents that are
served that identifies the date and manner of service upon each party.
(4) In civil actions that include a non-Filing User, all Filing Users must include a
certificate of service with all documents that are served that identifies the date and
manner of service upon the non-Filing User. The certificate of service need not
include parties served through the Court’s electronic-filing system.
(j) Notice of Court Orders and Judgments. Immediately upon the entry of an order or
judgment in an action assigned to the Electronic Filing System, the Clerk shall transmit to Filing
Users in the case, in electronic form, a Notice of Electronic Filing. Electronic transmission of
the Notice of Electronic Filing constitutes the notice required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
77(d). The Clerk must give notice in paper form to a person who has not consented to electronic
service in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
(k) Technical Failures. A Filing User whose filing is made untimely as the result of a
technical failure and who is unable to make a timely filing by traditional means must seek
appropriate relief from the Court.
(l) Public Access. Responsibility for redacting the personal identifiers set forth in Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(a) rests solely with counsel and the parties. The Clerk will not
review documents for compliance with this Rule.
(m) Hyperlinks.
(1) Electronically filed documents may contain the following types of hyperlinks:
(i) Hyperlinks to other portions of the same document and/or, where possible,
other documents within the CM/ECF system; and
(ii) Hyperlinks to a location on the Internet that contains a source document for a
citation.
(2) Hyperlinks to cited authority do not replace standard citation format. Complete
citations must be included in the text of the filed document.
(3) Neither a hyperlink to a location on the Internet (other than documents within the
CM/ECF system), nor any site to which it refers, is part of the record. Hyperlinks are
simply convenient mechanisms for accessing material cited in a filed document. The
citation to such hyperlinks shall be followed by the date the hyperlink was last
accessed. If a party wishes to make the content of an Internet site a part of the record,
it should use an appropriate method to capture the content and attach the content as
an exhibit or attachment to the document being filed. Admissibility of such content is
governed by the Federal Rules of Evidence.
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