Washington Cnty. C.P. Admin Order - Adoption of Local Rule of Civil Procedure 2... 5

agencies, corporations, or other groups; provided, however, that the filer of a legal paper must be

a party or counsel of record.

(d) Fees.

(1) The Prothonotary shall accept payment of all electronic filings fees through credit or

debit card. The payment processor shall be approved by the Cotµi through the President Judge, or

his or her designee.

(a) A reasonable convenience fee may be charged for the use of a credit or debit

card.

(b) The Prothonotary may not accept alternate payment or a deposit of funds in

advance of filing; provided however, that a filing party who utilizes a public terminal may

pay all fees associated with the filing by cash or money order in addition to those methods

prescribed in paragraph (1 ).

(2) The Prothonotary shall collect a user fee for the filing of certain legal papers as

established by the Court through the President Judge. The user fee and list oflegal papers shall be

delineated by Administrative Order.

(e) Acceptance of Filing.

(1) In the event that a legal paper is to be filed by a deadline, the filing shall be timely if

filed by 11 :59:59 P.M. EST/EDT on the day of the deadline.

Note: The electronic filing system is presumed to always be available. However, there will be

times that the system is unavailable due to maintenance or other reasons. In such an event, the

filing party shall make all reasonable attempts to file the legal paper as soon as the unavailability

ends.

(2) The Court upon motion shall resolve any dispute arising under the preceding paragraph

or Pa. R. C. P. 205 .4(e). If a party makes a good faith effort to electronically file a legal paper but

it is not received, accepted, or filed by the system or Prothonotary, the Court may order that the

paper be accepted and filed nunc pro tune upon a showing that the filing party made reasonable

efforts to present and file the paper in a timely manner.

(3) If a legal paper is accepted by the Prothonotary, it shall be deemed to have been filed

upon the date and time it was received by the C-Track E-Filing Portal; provided, however, that the

Prothonotary is authorized to refuse for filing a legal paper that is submitted without the requisite

fee being paid.

(4) Nothing shall prohibit the Court and/or District Court Administrator, or their respective

designees, from directly filing an order, notice, or transcript into the C-Track case management

system or E-Filing Portal. For purposes of this rule, an order may include an untiled motion or

petition that is attached to order once it has been signed by a common pleas judge.

(f) Filing Status; Record; and Other Procedures.

(1) Upon receipt of an electronic filing, the Prothonotary shall provide the filing party with

an e-mail notification, or automated notification from the C-Track E-Filing Portal, which includes

the date and time the document was received by the C-Track E-Filing Portal.

(2) After review of the electronic filing, the Prothonotary shall provide the filing party with

a second e-mail notification, or automated notification from the C-Track E-Filing Portal, that the

document has been accepted for filing ("filed") or refused and not accepted for filing and the

reason.

(3) When a legal paper is accepted by the Prothonotary, the PDF is considered part of the

official record. Proposed orders filed in Microsoft Word are to aid the Court and not part of the

official record.

(4) The Prothonotary shall maintain hard copies of the following documents regardless of

the method of filing:

(i) a final order in an Abuse Act case until five years after the date of the order;

(ii) a verdict;

(iii) a final order in a petition for a name change; and

(iv) a divorce decree.

For all other legal papers, notices, or orders filed or maintained electronically under this Rule, the

Prothonotary is not required to maintain a hard copy.

(5) Hard copy case files in existence at the time this Rule is adopted must continue to be

maintained by the Prothonotary. Except as otherwise authorized by the Court through the

President Judge, the Prothonotary may only purge a case file upon closure of the case if the legal

papers in the case file are scanned into the C-Track case management system in a PDF format. To

purge a case file, the Prothonotary must file an attestation that the electronic documents represent

a full and complete copy of the papers in the case file.

Note: This paragraph does not apply to cases that are expunged in accordance with statute, rule,

or order ofcourt.