Bindinglaw

US · rules

S.D. Iowa LR 3

Commencing Civil Cases

activein force · 2020-12-07 – presentact-effective-date

a. How Filed. Unless otherwise required or authorized by these rules, the ECF Procedures

Manual, or the Clerk of Court, all civil cases commenced in the court must be filed using the

ECF system. (See LR 5A(g)(1)).

b. Where Filed. Civil cases must be commenced in the proper district and division of the court.

See attached map of divisions.

Civil cases filed electronically must be filed using the ECF system. Civil cases filed non-electronically should be filed in the following locations.

1. Northern District.

A. Cedar Rapids Division and Eastern Division cases opened non-electronically ordinarily

should be sent to the Clerk of Court’s office in Cedar Rapids, but may be sent to the

Clerk of Court’s office in Sioux City;

B. Western Division and Central Division cases opened non-electronically ordinarily

should be sent to the Clerk of Court’s office in Sioux City, but may be sent to the Clerk

of Court’s office in Cedar Rapids.

2. Southern District. Cases opened non-electronically ordinarily should be sent to the Clerk

of Court in Des Moines, regardless of the division, but may be sent to the Clerk of Court’s

offices in Davenport or Council Bluffs.

c. Pro Se Parties. Except in prisoner cases filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2), and cases

filed under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254 and 2255, the Clerk of Court will provide all pro se parties in

civil cases with a copy of these Local Rules upon request. The most current version of these

rules may be found on the courts’ websites.

Pro se parties are responsible for informing the court promptly of any changes in their address,

telephone number, facsimile number, and email address.

Provenance

Source
www.iasd.uscourts.gov
Retrieved
2026-09-18
Edition
fed-district-2026-09-19
Content hash
b8f7726d9098276dcff0b7004e57ac34df0a5fb154604f69fee055e67acd3f2e
View the official source →

The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.

Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.

Coverage · API docs

Bindinglaw

Point-in-time US law with the receipt attached. Source URL, retrieval time, content hash, and validity dates on every answer.

curl api.binding.law/v1/law/coverage

© 2026 binding.law · a Jubal, Inc. productAttorneys and firms never pay. Ever.
S.D. Iowa LR 3 — Commencing Civil Cases · binding.law