V.R.E.F. Rule 2

(a) Court-Generated Document means documents generated by judicial officers or other

court personnel under the applicable statutes or rules of procedure in all actions and proceedings

entered in the Supreme Court, the Superior Court, or the Judicial Bureau. It includes documents

submitted for approval to judicial officers or court personnel and approved by officers or

personnel with or without modification.

(b) Document means a related and paginated grouping of information items that is inscribed

on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in

perceivable form.

(c) Electronic Case File means an assemblage of the items pertaining to a single case

maintained by the judiciary in electronic form, in the electronic case-management system,

whether electronically filed or transmitted or scanned from a physical record. The electronic case

file is part of a case file with a single case number that contains records that are in electronic case

form and items that are not in electronic form.

(d) Electronic Filer or “efiler” means an attorney, who is required to electronically file, and

any other person who is permitted or required to file electronically in a case.

(e) Electronic Filing or “efiling” means the process of transmitting a document from an

electronic filer, using the Judiciary’s electronic filing system, to the Judiciary’s electronic case

file.

(f) Electronic Filing System or “efiling system” means the Judiciary’s Internet-accessible

efiling and service system.

(g) Guide and File is part of the electronic filing system that enables a person to prepare a

document by responding to a guided interview and to print the document for filing or to file it

electronically.

(h) Judicial Officer means a justice, judge, assistant judge, magistrate, judicial bureau hearing

officer, a person specially assigned as a judge pursuant to 4 V.S.A. § 22, and a member of a

hearing panel assigned under A.O. 9, Rule 13.D(2).

(i) Nonelectronic Filing means any method of filing a paper document with the court.

(j) Personal Service means actual delivery of a nonelectronic copy of the notice or process to

the person to whom it is directed.

(k) Service Contact means a person for whom an email address and other identifying

information has been entered into the efiling system as a designated recipient of service on case

filings from other parties through the efiling system.

(1) Firm Service Contact. A Firm Service Contact is a Service Contact associated in the

efiling system with an attorney, organization, or law firm and is available only to users within the

firm to add to a case for service.

(2) Public Contact. A Public Contact is a Service Contact listed on the Public List for

purposes of electronic service that other electronic filers must use for service.

(3) Public List. The Public List is a directory of service contacts for system users that those

users have created and made publicly available for other users to select for service.

(l) Submission Agreement is how an efiler certifies compliance with provisions of the efiling

rules including, but not limited to, Rules 5(b)(5) and (6) (compliance with Rules for Public

Access to Court Records) and Rule 11(g)(3) (Service). The submission agreement is part of the

efiling process and efilers indicate compliance using a checkbox.

Reporter’s Notes—2020

Rule 2 provides definitions for terms used throughout the rules.

The definitions in Rule 2(a), (b), (c), and (e) and are taken in whole

or in part from Rule 2 of the Vermont Rules for Public Access to

Court Records and are intended to be consistent with the meaning

in those rules. See Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court

Records 2(f), (g), (h), and (l). Rule 2(h) defines “judicial officer”

for purposes of Rule 2(b) and is intended to be broad. The

derivation of the definition in Rule 2(j) for “personal service” is

explained in the Reporter’s Notes to Rule 11. The remaining

definitions are taken from instructions for the new case

management system.

Reporter’s Notes—2021 Amendment

The definition of “service contact” is amended to clarify, and

provide a better understanding of, the types of service contacts that

are used to make electronic service, and the source of the “public

list,” which is the primary reference for securing and using another

party’s email address for service and other case-related

communications. The “public list” consists of a directory housed

within the electronic filing system, of attorneys and other users

who are registered efilers, and their email addresses created and

made publicly available by the user as a service contact, and

updated, in accordance with Rule 4(b)(3) and 5(b)(7).

A definition of “submission agreement” is added. A submission

agreement is how efilers certify compliance with the electronic

filing rules when a document is filed. These certifications include,

but are not limited to, those of Rule 5(b)(5) and (6) (to certify

compliance with V.R.P.A.C.R. 7(a)(1) as to protection of

nonpublic records) and amended Rule 11(g)(3) (certifying

compliance with service requirements). The submission agreement

appears on the system page for each efiling, employing

certification “boxes” that must be checked by the efiler to comply

with certification. The submission agreement certification does not

supplant the efiler’s obligation to complete additional actions, if

any, that are prescribed by the applicable rules. See, e.g., Rule

5(b)(5) and (6) (incorporating obligation to take, and describe,

specific actions to protect against disclosure of nonpublic

information in the filing per V.R.P.A.C.R. 7(a)(1)), and Rule

11(g)(2) (circumstances requiring additional filing of a certificate

of service complying with V.R.C.P. 5(h) or V.R.P.P. 5(e)).

Reporter’s Notes—2025 Amendment

Rule 2(c) is amended to clarify that the electronic case file

contains the items in the Judiciary’s case management system.

Reporter’s Notes—2026 Amendment

Rule 2(h) is amended to indicate that judicial officer as used in the

rules includes a hearing panel member assigned to adjudicate a formal

proceeding of the Professional Responsibility Board.