Dauphin Cnty. C.P. Rule 205.4 - Civil Procedure | Electronic Filing

DAUPHIN COUNTY LOCAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

Rule 205.4 ELECTRONIC FILING AND SERVICE OF LEGAL PAPERS

(A) General Provisions

(1) All legal papers may be filed electronically with the Prothonotary through

its Electronic Filing System (EFS), CountySuite Portal, beginning on a

date set by Administrative Order of the President Judge.

(2) As used in this rule, electronic filing (e-filing) shall mean the electronic

transmission of legal papers by means other than facsimile transmission

or e-mail using the system made available by the Prothonotary. See

Pa.R.Civ.P. 205.4(a)(2).

(3) Registration

(a) Electronic filers must register with CountySuite Portal in

accordance with the CountySuite Portal User Manual.

(b) All registered users must be individuals and not entities, including

but not limited to law firms, agencies, corporations, or government

entities.

(c) Registered users shall change their address or other contact

information with the CountySuite Portal within ten (10) days of any

change.

(B) Form of Documents Electronically Filed

(1) Format

Legal papers shall be presented for filing in a portable document format

(PDF).

(2) Title of Documents

The title of each electronically filed document shall include:

(a) Descriptive title of the document;

(b) Party or parties filing the document;

(c) Party or parties against whom relief, if any, is sought; and

(d) Nature of the relief sought (e.g., Motion for Summary Judgment of

Defendant ABC Corp. against Plaintiff Jones).

(3) Signature and Verification

(a) The electronic filing of legal papers utilizing the username and

password constitutes the party’s signature. The legal paper must

include a signature block and the name of the filer under whose

username and password the legal paper is submitted. The legal

paper may be submitted with the filer’s scanned signature or /s/ and

the filer’s name typed in the space where the signature would

otherwise appear on the legal paper. The Pennsylvania Supreme

Court Attorney Identification Number must be included under the

signature line. The correct format of the attorney signature is:

/s/ Attorney Name

PA Supreme Court ID #

Attorney for ______________

Name of Law Firm

Address

Telephone Number

E-Mail Address

FAX Number

(b) The Verification required by Pa.R.Civ.P. 206.3 and Pa.R.Civ.P. 1024

and the signature page(s) of any document or legal paper executed

by any party other than the filing party must be included in the

electronic filing in PDF format at the time the legal paper is submitted.

(C) Public Access to the Docket

(1) Public access to the Prothonotary’s docket and EFS are available on the

internet at www.dauphincounty.gov/prothonotary.

(2) The Prothonotary shall also make a public access terminal available to the

general public to allow access to the Court’s electronic case record in all

electronically filed cases in the Prothonotary’s office. The public access

terminals will provide the same level of access to cases that is provided to

the public excluding any cases sealed by court order, statute, or rule of

court.

(D) Fees

(1) The Prothonotary will accept the following credit cards for payment of all

e-filing fees: Discover, MasterCard and Visa. The Prothonotary will not

accept advance deposits for payment of future filing. Electronic filers shall

alert the Prothonotary’s Office of any payment errors as soon as possible

and not later than forty-five (45) days of the payment date.

(2) The Prothonotary is authorized to charge a convenience fee, as set by

Order of the President Judge.

(E) Filings Under Seal

(1) Documents intended to be filed under seal shall be designated by the

filing party as “sealed” in the CountySuite Portal. However, designation

of documents as “sealed” does not seal the documents. In addition to

making the designation in the CountySuite Portal, the filing party must

also submit a Motion to Seal at the same time as the legal paper intended

to be sealed. The motion shall outline the reasons why the legal paper

should be sealed and shall follow motion procedure set forth in Local

Rule of Civil Procedure 208.3(a) and (b).

(2) Confidential Information Forms and documents properly filed with a

Confidential Document Form pursuant to Case Records Public Access

Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania will be sealed

without motion.

(3) The filing details and document title will appear in the EFS. The sealed

documents and Confidential Information Forms can be viewed only by the

Court, Court staff, Court Administration, Prothonotary staff, and case

participants.

(F) Filing

(1) The Prothonotary shall provide access to its EFS at all times except during

periods of required maintenance.

(2) The date and time of filing of a legal paper shall be recorded by the EFS.

The EFS shall provide the filing party with an electronic mail

acknowledgement which includes the date and time the legal paper was

received by the EFS.

(3) Once filed, the legal paper shall be reviewed by the Prothonotary, and the

filing party will receive notification that the legal paper was either accepted

or rejected. Legal documents will only be reviewed by the Prothonotary

staff during normal business hours. The date of an approved filing shall

be the date the document was received by the EFS, not the date of

approval.

(4) The review conducted by the Prothonotary does not address any

deficiencies that might be noted in a “non-entertaining order” after

reviewed by the Court.

(5) When the legal paper is accepted by the Prothonotary, the electronic

document is the official record. An electronic filer is not required to file any

paper copies unless specifically required by the Court.

(6) If a legal paper is accepted for filing by the Prothonotary, it shall be

deemed to have been filed the date and time it was received by the EFS.

If a legal paper is submitted without the requisite fees, the legal paper

shall be deemed to have been accepted for filing as of the date payment is

received.

(7) Exhibits that are filed electronically do not constitute the original of the

exhibit for evidentiary purposes.

(8) Neither the Prothonotary’s Office nor Court Administration shall be

obligated to print documents that are filed electronically.

(G) Service

(1) The filing party is responsible for service of the filed documents in

accordance with the applicable rules of court. The EFS does not have a

service component.

(2) Once an electronic filing has been accepted by the Prothonotary, it shall

be the responsibility of the filing party to provide to the Sheriff the proper

service fee and documents for original service and writs.

(H) Miscellaneous

(1) The filing deadline for any document filed electronically shall be 11:59:59

p.m. EST/EDT on the date it is due.

(2) If a registered user believes the unavailability of the EFS prevented a

timely filing, the registered user may file a motion within ten (10) days of

the registered user’s attempt to file the document. The motion shall state

the date and time of the first unsuccessful attempt to file the document

electronically and why the delay was prejudicial.