Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has announced amendments to its local rules concerning the format of filed documents and email filings.
The Southern District Court amended portions of Local Rule 5-1 after considering proposed amendments and comments received from the public. The amendments will take effect Dec. 1.
The court first amended the requirements under Local Rule 5-1(d), striking the reference to nonelectronic filings and replacing it with “Paper Filings.” The amended rule states that any document filed on paper must be on good-quality, 8.5-inch-by-1inch white paper, be single-sided, not stapled and include the original signature of the pro se litigant or attorney who files it.
The changes also completely remove Local Rule 5-1(d)(2) and the original version of Local Rule 5-1(e) regarding nonconforming fastening and nonconforming documents.
Originally, Local Rule 5-1(d)(2) stated that a party may ask the clerk for permission to fasten documents in another manner if the document could not be fastened or bound as required by the rule, and that the party must make such a request before attempting to file the document with nonconforming fastening.
For its part, Local Rule 5-1(e) originally stated, “The clerk will accept a document that violates this rule, but the court may exclude the document from the official record.”
Now, a new version of Local Rule 5-1(e) regarding email filings states, “Email filings may be accepted only in specific accordance with General Orders of the Court.”
The rule changes are available online.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.