E.D. Cal. L.R. 131

(a) Counsel Identification. The name, address, telephone number, and the

California State Bar membership number of all attorneys, or, if in propria persona, the

name, address, and telephone number of the party, and the specific identification of each

party represented by name and interest in the litigation (e.g., plaintiff Smith, defendant

Jones) shall appear in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of each document

presented for filing, except that in the instance of multi-party representation reference

may be made to the signature page for the complete list of parties represented. Attorneys

for service shall be designated in accordance with L.R. 180. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11; L.R.

180, 182; Cal. Rules of Court 2.111.

(b) Signatures Generally. All pleadings and non-evidentiary documents shall

be signed by the individual attorney for the party presenting them, or by the party involved

if that party is appearing in propria persona. Affidavits and certifications shall be signed

by the person executing the document. The name of the person signing the document

shall be typed or printed underneath the signature. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. If a document

is submitted to the Clerk via portable electronic media, signatures shall appear either as

a facsimile of the original (in a scanned document placed on portable electronic media),

or on a separate, scanned signature page if the document was published to .pdf and then

placed on portable electronic media. In the latter situation, the docket shall reflect the

submission of the signature page.

(c) Attorney Signatures. Anything filed using an attorney's name, login, and

password will be deemed to have been signed by that attorney for all purposes, including

Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. For example, for the attorney whose login and password is being

used, it is sufficient to indicate a signature as in the following example: "/s/ John M.

Barrister, Esquire."

(d) Misuse of Attorney's Electronic Signature. Any person challenging the

authenticity of an electronically-filed document or placement of the attorney's signature

on that document must file an objection and request that the document be stricken within

twenty-one (21) days of receiving the Notice of Electronic Filing, or at a later time for good

cause shown by an attorney exercising due diligence. Attorneys are responsible for, and

must take care to ensure, the validity of their signatures.

(e) Documents Requiring Signatures of Multiple Counsel. Documents that

are normally signed by more than one counsel, whether the counsel represent the same

party or different parties, may be prepared by obtaining approval from any other counsel

to state that the other counsel has authorized submission of the document on that

counsel's behalf. Submitting counsel shall place the other counsel's signature on the

electronic filing by using "/s/ counsel's name (as authorized on __[date]__)." Alternatively,

one counsel may obtain the original signatures from all counsel who are filing the

document, scan the signature page(s) only and file the signature page(s) as an

attachment to the document with an explanatory statement on the signature page of the

filed document.

(f) Non-Attorney's Electronic Signature. Documents that are required to be

signed by a person who is not the attorney of record in a particular action (verified

pleadings, affidavits, papers authorized to be filed electronically by persons in pro per,

etc.), may be submitted in electronic format bearing a "/s/" and the person's name on the

signature line along with a statement that counsel has a signed original, e.g., "/s/ John

Doe (original signature retained by attorney Mary Roe)." It is counsel's duty to maintain

this original signature for one year after the exhaustion of all appeals. This procedure

may also be followed when a hybrid electronic/paper document is filed, i.e., the

conventionally served document may also contain an annotated signature in lieu of the

original.

(g) Misuse of Non-Attorney's Electronic Signature. A non-filing signatory,

party, or attorney who disputes the authenticity of an electronically-filed document with a

non-attorney signature must file an objection and request that the document be stricken

within twenty-one (21) days of receiving the Notice of Electronic Filing or a copy of the

document, whichever first occurs, unless good cause exists for a later contest of the

signature by a person exercising due diligence.

(h) Electronic Signatures on Certain Documents in Criminal Actions.

Several documents in criminal actions require the signature of a non-attorney, such as a

grand jury foreperson, a defendant, a third-party custodian, a United States Marshal, an

officer from Pretrial Services or Probation, or some other federal officer or agent. Unless

the procedure in L.R. 131(f) is followed, the Clerk will scan these documents, upload them

to the CM/ECF system, and except as otherwise provided by administrative procedures,

discard the paper documents. The electronically-filed document as it is maintained on

the Court's servers shall constitute the official version of that record.