N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. O.
ORDER 16. ELECTRONIC FILING IN THE DISTRICT COURTS
A. Electronic Filing.
1. Documents may be filed electronically in the district courts. Where the Odessey(R)
electronic filing is available the Addendum to Administrative Order 16 controls. must be
submitted through the Odyssey® electronic filing system.
2. In any matter filed after April 1, 2013, all documents after the initiating pleadings must be filed electronically except for documents filed by self-represented litigants and prisoners. On a showing of good cause, an attorney may be granted leave of court to file paper documents.
2 3. A document filed electronically has the same legal effect as a paper document.
3 4. The name or facsimile signature on a document filed electronically has the same effect
as an original manually affixed signature. Any signature on document filed electronically is
considered that of the attorney or party it purports to be for all purposes. If it is established
that the documents were transmitted without authority, the court must strike the filing.
B. Filing Formats. Documents filed electronically must be submitted by facsimile
transmission or e-mail to the district court clerk unless otherwise ordered by the court. A
directory of district court fax numbers and e-mail addresses for electronic filing is available
online at http://www.court.state.nd.us/court/email/frclerks.htm. E-mailed documents must
be in portable document format (.pdf) or approved word processing format.
1. Approved word processing formats for documents filed electronically are WordPerfect,
Word, and ASCII. Parties must obtain permission from the district court clerk in advance if
they seek to submit documents in another word processing format.
1. Approved formats for documents filed electronically are WordPerfect (.wpd), Word (.doc or.docx), Tagged Image File (.tif), Portable Document File (.pdf) and ASCII (.txt).
2. All paragraphs must be numbered in documents filed electronically. Reference to material in such documents must be to paragraph number, not page number.
C. Time of Filing.
1. A document in compliance with the rules and submitted electronically to the district court
clerk by 11:59 p.m. local time will be is considered filed on the date submitted.
2. Upon On receiving a document filed by e-mail, the district court clerk will issue an e-mail confirmation that the document has been received.
3. A party filing a document electronically must pay any required filing fee within seven
days. If fees are not paid within seven days of submission, the document will be returned by
the district court clerk and the party will be required to refile the document.
3. Any required filing fee must be paid by credit card or debit card at the time the document is received.
D. Confidentiality. In documents prepared for filing with the court, information that would otherwise be included in the document but required by N.D.R.Ct. 3.4 to be redacted in court documents must be separately filed in a reference sheet (confidential information form, see appendix) and may be included in those documents only by reference. Any document not complying with this order is subject to N.D.R.Ct. 3.4(g).
D. E. Electronic Service.
1. If a party files a document by electronic means, the party A party who files a document
electronically must serve the document by electronic means if the recipient consents to
accept documents served electronically. Service by electronic means is not effective if the
party making service learns that the attempted service did not reach the person to be served.
2. A party may designate a fax number or an e-mail address as their address for the purpose of accepting electronic service.
3. If a recipient does not consent to accept electronic service of a document, service by another means specified in the rules is required.
4. For purposes of computation of time, any document electronically served must be treated as if it were mailed on the date of transmission.
E F. Effective Date. This Order is effective March 1, 2006, and remains in effect until
further order of the Court.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Adopted effective March 1, 2006. This order was amended, effective March 1, 2008; March 1, 2009; August 1, 2010; March 1, 2011;_________________.
Section C3 was amended, effective March 1, 2011, to increase the time to pay the filing fee
from five to seven days after submission.
Order 16 was amended, effective_________________, to incorporate the provisions of the Order 16 Addendum (Filing in the District Court where Odyssey® Electronic Filing is Available) and Order 18 (Filing in Counties Using the Odyssey® Case Management System). The Order 16 Addendum and Order 18 were repealed, effective______________.
Sources: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 29-30, 2010, page 21; April 24-25, 2008, pages 12-16; October 11-12, 2007, pages 3-5; April 26-27, 2007, pages 16-18; January 25, 2007, pages 15-16; Sept 23-24, 2004, pages 18-27.