1. What is the case management/electronic case files project?
Answer: CM/ECF is a joint project of the Administrative Office of the U.S.
Courts and the federal courts to replace the existing case management system
(e.g. BANCAP) with a new case management system based on current technology,
new software and increased functionality. The new system will enable the
court to maintain electronic case files and offer electronic filing over
the Internet.
2. What are the benefits and features of using CM/ECF for courts, attorneys and
the public?
Answer: Full case information (including the docket and the filed documents) is readily
available to judges, chambers staff, and clerk’s office personnel without having to
retrieve case records from the file room. Court users may also access this information
at any time of day via the Internet.
- Registered attorneys may file and retrieve court documents 24 hours per day, 7 days
per week
- Attorneys filing via the Internet automatically create docket entries.
- Case records may be viewed over the Internet, including the ability to view the full text
of all filed documents (subject to any limitations imposed by the court).
- Attorneys can receive notices electronically in ECF cases. This eliminates the cost to
the court and attorneys of handling and mailing paper notices. It also greatly speeds
delivery.
- Maintaining files in electronic form reduces physical storage space needs.
3. When is CM/ECF available?
Answer: In the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio, CM/ECF will be
available beginning January 1, 2004. Training of participating bankruptcy attorneys will
begin January 5, 2004, and it is anticipated that the entire bankruptcy bar will have
received training by July 1, 2004.
4. Will CM/ECF be mandatory?
Answer: In the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio, CM/ECF will be
mandatory for attorneys as of July 1, 2004.
5. How will the court establish procedures for electronic filing?
Answer: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio has enacted
“Administrative Procedures for Electronic Case Filing.” These procedures are available
on the court’s web site and may be downloaded.
6. Are there any restrictions on who may file documents on CM/ECF?
Answer: Yes. At the present time only attorneys who have received CM/ECF training
from this court or from another U.S. Bankruptcy Court and been registered with this
court may file on this court’s CM/ECF system. It is anticipated that after July 1, 2004,
the court will begin providing access to claim filers.
7. How is filer identity authenticated?
Answer: Authentication is currently completed at login. Each user is required to identify
himself/herself by presenting a valid combination of user name and password. Upon
doing so, access to the site is granted.
8. Can the general public view ECF cases and the documents in those cases?
Answer: Anyone is entitled to come into the courthouse and view cases and
documents on the court’s public terminals. Access to view cases and documents in
CM/ECF outside of the courthouse is available to anyone with a PACER login and
password. To defray the costs of PACER and CM/ECF, the Judicial Conference has
set a fee of seven cents per page for electronic court data via the Internet. The fee
applies to all users, although courts may exempt certain persons, such as bankruptcy
case trustees. Parties entitled to documents as part of the legal process receive a free
electronic copy, although they will be charged for replacement copies.
9. When a user files a pleading with the court does the system automatically
serve the other parties or does the user have to do something extra to serve
the other parties? And, do the other parties just get notification of a
filing or do they get the actual document?
Answer: 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 automatically 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 so that a recipient may view the
document.
Under the Administrative Procedures for this court, attorney participants agree that
electronic service shall, in most instances, constitute legal service. Other parties who
are not registered CM/ECF filers must be served in the traditional manner with paper
documents.
10. What is Adobe Acrobat?
Answer: Adobe Acrobat writer is a commercial software package enabling you to save
your document in PDF (Portable Document Format). It is available from retailers.
Adobe Acrobat Reader allows you to view and print PDF documents, but does not
permit you to create them. The Reader is free and available for download at
www.adobe.com.
11. Why was Adobe PDF chosen as the document format? Does CM/ECF accept
other formats such as TIFF?
Answer: CM/ECF only accepts documents in PDF (Portable Document Format). PDF
was selected because it is an open publishing standard that preserves the author’s
document content and format. Both searchable text and graphical (image) documents
can be stored in a PDF (including a variety of formats such as bitmaps and TIFFs).
PDF also allows documents to be filed and later retrieved through CM/ECF and to be
displayed and printed exactly as they looked to the original author. PDF can also be
used with a variety of operating systems, including Windows and Macintosh and in
conjunction with common office software products such as word processors and
spreadsheets.
12. Can you search a PDF file that was created by scanning original hard copy
documents?
Answer: It is possible to do full-text search of PDF text files, but not PDF scanned files.
However, an option with scanning is Optical Character Recognition (OCR), where the
scanning software attempts to convert each letter to text. (The Adobe Capture package
allows conversion of scanned pages to PDF files that are text searchable, using an
OCR process.) The drawback is that the OCR process is generally about 95% – 97%
accurate and each mistake that is made in the conversion must be fixed by the person
who scanned the document. This can take a fair amount of time, especially with a large
document.
13. Is there a size limitation on scanning?
Answer: This court’s ECF Procedure 5(d) states that “[e]ach transmission to ECF shall
not exceed two (2) megabytes total file size. Files which exceed two (2) megabytes
shall be broken into smaller files and transmitted to ECF in multiple transmissions.”
14. Is CM/ECF word processor specific?
Answer: No. You may use any word processor that can convert documents to PDF.
15. What are court procedures for Pro Se debtors?
Answer: Pro se filings will continue to be handled in the traditional manner – over the
counter. Court staff will then scan the documents into the ECF system.
16. How is the requirement of an original signature handled for ECF cases?
Answer: ECF Procedure 8(d) governs the “Form of Electronic Signatures.”
Please consult this procedure.
17. May an attorney authorize someone else (e.g., a paralegal) to use the
attorney’s login and password to file documents in ECF?
Answer: Yes, but an attorney should be very careful in granting such permission. All
documents filed under an attorney’s name and password are deemed to bear that
attorney’s signature, and the attorney bears full responsibility for any use of his/her
login and password.
18. Is the system SSL (Secure Socket Layer) enabled?
Answer: Yes
19. Will the court’s docket reveal who has submitted documents via the Internet?
Answer: Yes. All docket entries will show the name of the logged-on filer who
submitted the document via the Internet.
20. May proofs of claim be filed over the Internet?
Answer: Not at this time. It is anticipated that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Southern District of Ohio will begin receiving ECF filings of proofs of claim after July 1,
2004.
21. Will proofs of claims be available for inspection via the Internet?
Answer: Not until July 1, 2004. Proofs of claims will not be scanned by court staff nor
filed via the Internet until at least July 1, 2004. Therefore, proofs of claims will remain
in paper form in case folders until at least that date.
22. When an ECF participant receives email notification that a document has
been filed in a case, does the email have the document attached to it?
Answer: No. The email notification contains a hyperlink which provides the email
recipient with one “free” look at the document in the ECF system. At that time the
recipient has the opportunity to print the document.
23. Sometimes I get an email that something has been filed in the ECF system,
but I can’t see the document. Why?
Answer: Please make sure that you are running Internet
Explorer 6.0. Other browsers and browser versions
may work as well. If you are presented with a login screen when
requesting the document, make certain to use your PACER (not ECF) login ID and
password.
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