Rules and Operating Procedures regarding Electronic Case Filings
 
 
  1. Registration
    1. a. Only active members of the Palau Bar Association may file documents in accordance with these procedures. All other users, including pro se parties, shall continue to file documents by submitting paper documents to the court.
    2. b. Active members of the Palau Bar Association must register with the Clerk of Court (“Clerk”) in order to use the Palau Supreme Court Case Management and Electronic Case Filing System (“e-filing system”). Upon receipt of a properly executed Attorney Registration Form and User Agreement, the Clerk shall assign the attorney a confidential Login and Password to the system. No attorney shall knowingly authorize or permit his or her name or password to be used by any other person except for his or her authorized agents, such as a secretary or paralegal in his or her employ.
    3. c. Registered attorneys shall notify the Clerk within 5 days of any changes in firm name, delivery address, fax number, or email address.
  2. Documents Which May Not be Electronically Filed
    1. a. The following documents may not be filed electronically: any document which opens a new case (e.g., summons, complaint, information), any document which seeks emergency relief (e.g., temporary restraining orders), any document which requires actions by a non-party (e.g., subpoenas, witness summons).
    2. b. In the event a disallowed filing type is made electronically, the Clerk will reject the filing and the user will receive a notification of rejection.
  3. Filing Time
    1. a. Filing a document electronically does not alter the deadline for that document. Filing must be complete before midnight Palau time in order to be considered timely filed that day.
    2. b. The date and time of filing is stated on the Notice of Electronic Filing which the filing attorney will receive from the Court. The time stamp is based on the time of electronic receipt of the documentation by the Court, not the time of transmission by the user, except as provided below.
    3. c. In the event of a relevant discrepancy between the time of transmission and the time of receipt by the Court, an attorney may submit documentation showing the time of transmission to the Clerk. The Clerk will modify the time of filing to reflect the time of transmission upon a credible showing that the document was transmitted before a deadline.
    4. d. Upon completion of filing and receipt of an electronically filed document, the e-filing system shall display a confirmation receipt that includes the date and time of electronic receipt of each document uploaded. The confirmation shall serve as conclusive proof of time of filing.
    5. e. The Clerk shall review all documents submitted via the e-filing system prior to adding those documents to the official record. In the event that the Clerk rejects the submitted documents following review, the document shall not become part of the official record and the user will receive an email to the account registered with the e-filing system informing them of the rejection. Users may be required to re-file a document meeting filing requirements. The document will be deemed filed on the date that it is properly submitted.
  4. Document Formatting; File Size
    1. a. All electronically filed or served pleadings shall, to the extent practicable, be formatted in accordance with the applicable rules governing formatting of paper pleadings, except as provided below.
    2. b. The electronic title of any document shall include either the assigned case number (e.g., “Civil Action 12-123”) or, if a case number has not been assigned, the case name (e.g., “Doe v. Roe”). The electronic title shall also include information describing the nature of the pleading (e.g., “Civil Action 12-123, Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment”).
    3. c. An electronically filed document, including all attachments and exhibits, shall include numbered pages, and every page shall reflect the total number of pages in the efiled document (e.g., “Page 6 of 94”) and the total number of documents filed as part of this e-filing (e.g., “Document 1 of 3”).
    4. d. Proposed orders shall be filed in Document file format (i.e., .doc or .docx) or Open Document format (i.e., .odt). All other documents shall be filed in Portable Document Format (“PDF”), including all exhibits, attachments, and other documents, whether or not they accompany motions, briefs or briefs. Whenever possible, PDFs of electronically prepared documents should be created by saving those documents in PDF format, not by printing the document and scanning paper copy. Optical character recognition (“OCR”) shall be performed on any scanned document containing text prior to filing.
    5. e. An electronically filed document, including all attachments and exhibits, shall not exceed 3 megabytes. (The number of pages accommodated by this file size will vary according to the nature of the document, but will usually correspond to 60-100 pages). Documents in excess of 3 megabytes must be submitted conventionally or broken into multiple files.
    6. f. An electronically filed document may be filed as a single file or broken into several components files. For example, a motion for summary judgment filing which includes the motion, exhibits, a proposed order, and a certificate of service could have all of these documents combined in a single PDF or four separate PDFs.
    7. g. When submitting multiple PDFs in a single filing, the electronic title shall include a description of the content of that PDF (e.g., “Civil Action 12-123, Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Exhibits A-H”). The content of the PDF should also be entered into the “subject” field of the document upload (e.g. “Exhibits A-H”) and the “sort” field should be used to place the documents in the proper order.
    8. h. The original of any electronically filed document must be retained by the filer and made available upon the Court or Clerk’s request.
  5. Signatures
    1. a. Every pleading, document, and instrument electronically filed or served shall be deemed to have been signed by the attorney or declarant and shall bear a scanned facsimile or typographical signature of such person, along with the typed name, address, telephone number, and Bar number of a signing attorney. Typographical signatures shall be in the form of a conforming signature (e.g., “/s/ [Attorney Name]”).
    2. b. In the case of a signatory who is a registered attorney, such document shall be deemed signed provided that such document is filed using the Login and Password of the signatory.
    3. c. Documents containing signatures of third-parties, (e.g., unopposed motions, affidavits, stipulations, etc.) may also be filed electronically bearing a scanned or typographical signature of the third party. In the case of a signatory who is not the registered attorney filing the document, the filer of the document shall list thereon the names of any other signatory or signatories. The filer shall attest that concurrence in the filing of the document has been obtained from each of the other signatories which shall serve in lieu of their signature(s) on the document. The filer’s attestation may be incorporated in the document itself, or take the form of a declaration attached to the document.
  6. Electronic Service
    1. a. Each registered attorney shall agree to receive electronic service through the email address registered with the e-filing system. When an electronically filed document is accepted by the Clerk’s office, the Clerk’s office shall send an email attaching the as-filed document to the e-mail accounts registered with the e-filing system for all attorneys who have entered an appearance in the case. This shall constitute service of the parties so emailed under ROP R. Civ. P. 5(g). Service of any parties not registered with the e-filing system will be effected by the serving party consistent with ROP R. Civ. P. 5.
    2. b. A registered attorney may also request the Clerk to facilitate service of electronically filed documents. Upon request by the registered attorney, the Clerk will print copies of documents to be served and either place them in the box of the attorney to be served or deliver them to the Marshals for service.
  7. Fees
    1. a. The Clerk may charge registered attorneys additional fees to deliver, access, and use the service. These fees are in addition to regular filing fees. The Clerk may also require registered attorney to maintain a minimum balance in their account with the Clerk’s office.
    2. b. The Clerk may require a per-page charge for printing documents to be included in the official court file, to be provided to the Judge(s) or Justice(s) presiding over the case, or to be served by placement in the box of the attorney or by the Marshals.
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