Administrative Order 16 - ELECTRONIC FILING PILOT PROJECT FOR THE DISTRICT COURTS

Obsolete Date: 1/15/2013

A. Electronic Filing.

1. Documents filed electronically in the district courts 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. Initiating pleadings may be filed electronically in non-criminal cases.

3. A document filed electronically has the same legal effect as a paper document.

4. Any signature on a 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.

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 is considered filed on the date submitted.

2. After reviewing an electronically filed document, the district court clerk must inform the filer, through an e-mail generated by the Odyssey� system, whether the document has been accepted or rejected.

3. Any required filing fee must be paid by credit card or debit card at the time the document is filed.

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).

E. Electronic Service.

1. A party who files a document electronically must serve the document by electronic means if the recipient consents to accept documents served electronically. In any matter filed after April 1, 2013, all documents after the initiating pleadings must be served electronically through the Odyssey� system except for documents served on or by self-represented litigants and prisoners. On a showing of good cause, an attorney may be granted leave of court to serve paper documents or to be exempt from receiving electronic service.

2. Electronic service is not effective if the party making service learns that the attempted service did not reach the person to be served.

3. After April 1, 2013, any party not exempt from electronic filing must designate an e-mail address for accepting electronic service.

4. For purposes of computation of time, any document electronically served must be treated as if it were mailed on the date of transmission.

F. Technical Issues; Relief. On a showing of good cause, the court may grant appropriate relief if electronic filing or electronic service was not completed due to technical problems.

G. Effective Date. This Order is effective March 1, 2006, and remains in effect until further order of the Court.

The Supreme Court of the State of North Dakota convened this 28th day of June, 2012, with the Honorable Gerald W. VandeWalle, Chief Justice, and the Honorable Dale V. Sandstrom, the Honorable Mary Muehlen Maring, the Honorable Carol Ronning Kapsner and the Honorable Daniel J. Crothers, Justices, directing the Clerk of the Supreme Court to enter the above order.

Petra H. Mandigo Hulm 
Chief Deputy Clerk 
North Dakota Supreme Court